June 1936 Volume Xix Published Quarterly by The

JUNE 1936

VOLUME XIX NUMBER 4

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN

THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN is a state- aided corporation whose function is the cultivation and encouragement of the historical interests of the State. To this end it invites your cooperation; membership is open to all, whether residents of Wisconsin or elsewhere. The dues of annual members are three dollars, payable in advance; of life members, thirty dollars, payable once only. Subject to certain exceptions, members receive the publications of the Society, the cost of producing which far exceeds the membership fee. This is rendered possible by reason of the aid accorded the Society by the State. Of the work and ideals of the Society this magazine affords, it is believed, a fair example. With limited means, much has already been accomplished; with ampler funds more might be achieved. So far as is known, not a penny entrusted to the Society has ever been lost or misapplied. Property may be willed to the Society in entire confidence that any trust it assumes will be scrupulously executed.

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THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published quarterly by the Society, at 116 E. Main St., Evansville, Wisconsin, in September, Decem- ber, March, and June, and is distributed to its members and exchanges; others who so desire may receive it for the annual subscription of three dollars, payable in advance; single numbers may be had for seventy-five cents. All correspondence concerning the magazine should be addressed to 116 E. Main St., Evansville, Wisconsin, or the office of the State His- torical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.

Entered as second-class matter, January 1, 1927, at the post office at Evans- ville, Wisconsin, under the act of August 24, 1912. VOL. XIX 1935-1936

THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

PUBLICATIONS OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCON- SIN. JOSEPH SCHAFER, Superintendent and Editor CONTENTS OF VOLUME XIX

ARTICLES: PAGE

FILIP A. FORSBECK, M.D.—New Upsala: The First Swedish Settlement in Wisconsin .... 3, 161, 294 ROBERT K. RICHARDSON—The Mindedness of the Early Faculty of Beloit College 32 WILLIAM F. RANEY—Pine Lumbering in Wis- consin 71 WILLIAM WRIGLEY WINTERBOTHAM—Memoirs of a Civil War Sleuth 131, 276 W. A. TITUS—The Westward Trail 259, 404 WILLIAM F. RANEY—The Building of Wiscon- sin Railroads 387 DOCUMENTS: Turner's Autobiographic Letter 91 Excerpts from a Whaler's Diary 103, 227, 342 Memoirs of a Sauk Swiss 182 Hawley's Diary of His Trip Across the Plains in 1860 319 Letters of Richard Emerson Ela . 431 EDITORIAL COMMENT: The Wisconsin Phalanx 454 COMMUNICATIONS: First Wisconsin Hop Grower 107 Naming of Fort Kearny 475 BOOK NOTES 108, 242, 356, 476 THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE 110, 245, 357, 479 PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGHTY-SEC- OND AND EIGHTY-THIRD ANNUAL MEETINGS 120, 367

VOL. XIX, No. 4 June, 1936

THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

PUBLICATIONS OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCON- SIN. JOSEPH SCHAFER, Superintendent and Editor CONTENTS

BUILDING OF WISCONSIN RAILROADS

William F. Raney 387

THE WESTWARD TRAIL W. A. Titus 404

DOCUMENTS: Letters of Richard Emerson Ela 431

EDITORIAL COMMENT:

The Wisconsin Phalanx 454

COMMUNICATION 475

BOOK NOTES 476

THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE . Louise Phelps Kellogg 479

The Society as a body is not responsible for statements or opinions advanced in the following pages by contributors. COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN Paid for out of the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund Income Previous numbers of the Wisconsin Magazine of History are indexed in the International Index to Periodical Literature to be found in many public libraries. THE BUILDING OF WISCONSIN RAILROADS

WILLIAM F. RANEY

URING most of Wisconsin's history as a state the rail- D roads have been the chief means of internal communication. They have formed an integral and a very important part of the economic structure of the community. Their operation was the first 'big business' of the state, unless one includes the fur trade; and the fur trade scarcely touched the lives of the Anglo-Saxon settlers. The men who pro- moted railroads thought in terms of millions of dollars and showed a tendency to consolidate while logging and lumbering were in comparison still small and scattered enterprises. In 1837, while George Wallace Jones was territorial delegate, he presented to congress a petition from Sinipee, a village in Grant county, for the survey of a railroad route from Milwaukee through Sinipee and Dubuque to San Francisco, California. The petition 'produced a great laugh and, hurrah in the house.' In the following year, however, Jones did get an appropriation of $2,000 for a survey from Milwaukee to the Mississippi river at Dubuque, the idea being that such a road would serve the lead region.1 For a time Wisconsin public opinion divided its favor between railroads and canals. The first railroad company actually to build was chartered in 1847, changed its name soon afterwards to the Milwaukee and Mississippi, and began train service between Milwaukee and Waukesha in 1851. From these beginnings until nearly the close of the sixties, progress in railroad construction was not rapid. By

1 John C. Parish, George Wallace Jones (Iowa City, 1912), 171. 388 William F. Raney [June

the end of I860, there were 891 miles of railway in operation in Wisconsin.2 The Civil war naturally made labor scarce, and a depreciated currency caused wages and the prices of materials to rise. Milwaukee capitalists, moreover, who might have been expected to build railroads in this state, took a longer view and preferred to extend their enterprises into regions farther west. Consequently, by 1867 the total had risen to only 1,030 miles.3 Then came six years during which railroads in Wisconsin were doubled.4 The panic of 1873 caused a temporary cessation of building, but between 1875 and 1890 the mileage doubled again, reaching 5,583 in the latter year. The last decade of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth each saw the building of about 950 miles of primary track. After 1910 additions were small. A peak, probably for all time, of 7,693 miles was reached in 1916; and since that time there have been small decreases almost every year, until at present just about 7,000 miles of railroad are operated in Wisconsin.5

FACTORS IN EARLY FINANCING OF RAILROADS In the early days of Wisconsin railroad building, much of the state was still in the frontier stage. The new communities needed the railways desperately to get their surplus products to market. At the same time the frontier was poor; The constitution forbade the state to lend money or credit

2 F. L. Paxson, 'The Railroads of the "Old Northwest" before the Civil War,5 in the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters Transactions (Madison, 1914), vol. xvii, part i, pp. 269-274. 3 Frederick Merk, Economic History of Wisconsin during the Civil War Decade (Madison, 1916), 277. Chapters ix-xiii are devoted to matters connected with railroads. 4 First Annual Report of the Railroad Commissioners of . . . Wisconsin, 1874 (Madison, 1874), 38. This reports 2,360 miles in operation on December 31, 1873. 'Interstate Commerce Commission, Forty-Seventh Annual Report on the Statistics of Railways in the United States for . . . 1933 (Washington, 1935). December 31, 1933, there were 7,063 miles in operation. Figures from 1890 onwards are taken from these annual summaries. RAILROAD MAP OF

SCALE OF MILES

RAILROAD COMMISSION OF WISCONSIN

1929

(BY PlRMiS'iCM Of THE Pl>eLIC 'jlRViCt COMM1&SION.)

1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 389 for internal improvements, whereby Wisconsin was spared some of the woes experienced by Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota. But if the state might not help, there were still local agencies on the one hand and the federal government on the other. There was no prohibition nor effective limitation resting on counties and towns, villages and cities. When a railroad was projected, the localities along the route were expected to borrow to pay for it; and for the most part they did so, readily and rather recklessly. For example, when, in the winter of 1860-61, the Northwestern extended its line from Oshkosh to Appleton, a distance of some twenty miles, the 'company issued $184,000 of Appleton Extension first mortgage seven per cent bonds and $30,000 in common stock in exchange at par for city bonds of Appleton and Neenah.'* Eastern capitalists were often interested in Wisconsin roads, but regarded them as highly speculative, and until after 1870 they never carried more than a small part of the investment; the localities and individuals served by the road paid for it. Besides the municipalities the railroad companies ex- ploited private citizens, especially the farmers who so much desired their facilities. Between 1850 and 1857 some 6,000 Wisconsin farmers mortgaged their farms for a total of nearly $5,000,000. The agents of the companies gave stock certificates to the farmers in exchange for the mortgages which they immediately sold to investors in the eastern states. Then in the panic of 1857 every railroad in the state went into bankruptcy, and the farmers were left with a lot of worthless paper. Compromise and legislation did something to remedy this situation during the decade of the Civil war, but it has remained one of the most painful episodes in the history of Wisconsin railroad finance.7

6 Richard L. Canuteson, M.A. thesis (MS), Railway Development of North- ern Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin, 1930), 142. 7Merk, op. cit., 238-270. 390 William F. Raney [June

The federal government had a great reservoir of wealth in the public domain, and since the lands belonged to the people and the people wanted railroads, congress made large grants of these lands to aid in financing railroads. These grants were all made between 1850 and 1872. Sometimes they were made directly to the railroad companies; at other times the lands were given in trust to the state governments. The grants were in some cases not well administered by the states nor honestly earned by the companies that received them, and only a third of the lands granted were finally patented to the railroads. Yet the railroads received in all the United States some 49,000,000 acres, and in Wisconsin they ultimately got 2,874,000 acres, or nearly one-twelfth of the area of the state.8 In the days before railroads, land grants had been made for the Milwaukee and Rock river canal and for the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. On June 3, 1856, congress offered land in Wisconsin for two lines of railroad. One was to be built north from Fond du Lac to the state line. The other, according to the federal statute, was to run from Madison or Columbus by way of Portage City to the St. Croix river and on northward to the western end of Lake Superior, with a branch to Bayfield. The legislature met early in September to dispose of the grants, and by October 11 it had made its decisions. The privilege of earning the land set apart for the northeastern line went to a company that ultimately coalesced with the Chicago and North- western, system. When this company completed its line to Marinette, in 1872, the fact was certified by the proper state

•Lewis H. Haney, A Congressional History of Railways in the United States, 1850-87, University of Wisconsin Bulletins, Economics and Political Science Series, vol. 6, no. 1., Merk, op. cit.9 279, gives the much larger total of 3,750,000 acres. Haney has reference to land finally patented, Merk to the amount offered by the federal government in the two acts. 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 391 authorities, and the federal government patented to the company something over 546,000 acres of land along its route.9 The land offered for the railway into the northwestern part of the state amounted to more than a million acres, and the prize was awarded to the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad, which was then building a line across the state. Byron Kilbourn, president of the railroad, used methods which were later the subject of a legislative investigation. He distributed packages of stocks and bonds, mostly bonds, as follows: to fifty-nine members of the assembly, $355,000 worth; to thirteen senators, $175,000; to Governor Coles Bashford, $50,000; to other state officials, including one judge of the supreme court, $50,000; and to the governor's private secretary, $5,000. Several persons who had acted as lobbyists received similar gifts. The total face value of the securities given away was almost $900,000. The La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad went bankrupt within two years after these gifts were made, so that most of the recipients never got much money for the company's paper. Coles Bash- ford was forehanded enough to call at Kilbourn's office to exchange bonds for cash, and actually received $15,000.10 He removed later to Arizona. The purchase of the legislature of 1856 united with the matter of the railroad farm mortgages to create a belief, destined to persist long in Wis- consin politics, that railroad companies could not be honest. The second great federal land grant came in 1864. The details of the disposition of land under it will appear as we proceed to sketch the histories of the principal railroads of the state. The Wisconsin Central received about 837,000 acres, and the Omaha lines, a part of the Northwestern system, gained about 1,288,000 acres.

9 Merk, op cit.9 280-285. 10 Bessie S. Winn, M.A. thesis (MS), The Wisconsin Railroad Scandal, 1856 (University of Wisconsin, 1928); Merk, op, cit., 281. 392 William F. Baney [June

THE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL All of the young Wisconsin cities along Lake Michigan thought of themselves as the future marts of the great areas to the west so rapidly filling up with settlers. Each wanted to be the terminus of a railroad that would capture the trade of the future. The map of 1860 shows railroads starting westward, none of them very long as yet, from Sheboygan, Kenosha, and Racine. In this competition, however, Mil- waukee easily out-distanced all of its Wisconsin rivals: by 1860 it had sent three lines toward the west, and two of them had already reached the Mississippi river. And after 1855 Milwaukee was also linked with Chicago.11 The first railroad out of Milwaukee had begun as the Milwaukee and Waukesha, chartered in 1847. Growing more ambitious, the company became the Milwaukee and Mississippi in 1850, and the next year it began train service, the first in the state, as far as Waukesha. It reached Madi- son in 1854 and Prairie du Chien in 1857. Abandoning its original plan to cross the lead region, the western third of its course followed down the valley of the Wisconsin river, wjiich furnished a uniform and easy grade.12 The second line to cross the state, the La Crosse and Milwaukee, was built by a company formed in 1854 by the consolidation of several predecessors, and from 1858 onwards it, too, could give service to the Mississippi. It was Byron Kilbourn, the president of this company, who distributed so many 'pecuni- ary compliments' in 1856 to legislators and other public officials. The panic of 1857, and gross mismanagement besides, ruined the company, whose affairs were involved in litigation for many years. Finally, the new Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad company, organized in 1863, secured in

11 Paxson, op. cit., has a map for each year to 1860. The frontispiece of Merk, op. cit.f is a map showing railroads in "Wisconsin in 1865. 13 Joseph Schafer, The Wisconsin Lead Region (Madison, 1932), 123. 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 393

1867 control of the entire line, and under its able president, Alexander Mitchell, and equally able superintendent, Sher- burn S. Merrill, it achieved a solid financial and business success. Mitchell remained its head from 1865 to his death in 1887; Merrill its manager from 1865 to 1884. Like its northern neighbor, the Milwaukee and Missis- sippi went into bankruptcy and had many troubled years. In 1867, however, the Milwaukee and St. Paul purchased most of the stock of its rival to the south, and the two lines were thenceforth under the same management. The third line striking westward from Milwaukee before the Civil war was the Milwaukee and Watertown, which divided at Water- town, one branch running toward Madison and the other to Columbus and eventually to Portage. This, too, was absorbed into the Milwaukee and St. Paul system. In 1867 the Milwaukee and St. Paul joined with a railroad in Minnesota to give St. Paul its first railroad connection with the outside world,13 and in 1868-69 Alexander Mitchell bought a majority interest in the Racine and Mis- sissippi, which had an outlet on the Mississippi at Dunleith, now East Dubuque. Thus, for the moment, he controlled all the routes across Wisconsin from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. In 1874 his company purchased a road from Milwaukee to Chicago, and the name of the corporation became the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway company.14 Extensions north and west in Wisconsin were bought and built at various times until the system came to look as

13 William W. Folwell, A History of Minnesota (Minneapolis, 1926), iii, 2. 14 Report of the Railroad Commissioners, 1874. See part ii, 'Official Papers,' Railway statistics, 78-98; Merk, op. cit., chap, xi; John W. Cary, The Organization and History of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company (Mil- waukee, 1893), passim. At pages 377-378, there is a list of dates of construction of the various parts of the system. Canuteson, op. cit.. 62-73. This thesis contains a most useful series of annual maps showing the progress of construction of all lines in northern Wisconsin. 394 William F. Raney [June the modern map shows it. Meanwhile, the company's lines were reaching rapidly westward to gather in the wheat of the prairie states. The system as a whole is the monument of Alexander Mitchell. At the time of his death in 1887, the company was operating 5,669 miles of road. For a good many years the Milwaukee turned traffic to, and received traffic from, the two great railroads of the Northwest, the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern. When the two united in purchasing, through the Northern Securities company, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, this latter became the link with Chicago for the two purchasing companies,15 and the Milwaukee road was faced with a serious loss of business. It, therefore, resolved to build to the Pacific Northwest, and in 1905 the construction began. Two years later came electrification in the Rocky mountains. The western extensions and improvements were very ex- pensive, and the new line had to meet sharp competition from those already in the Northwest. The result was bankruptcy, and in 1925 a reorganization began with the appointment of receivers. In 1927 a new corporation, the Chicago, Mil- waukee, St. Paul and Pacific railroad company, was formed, and early in the next year it assumed charge of the system, now grown to something over 11,000 miles.

THE CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN The Northwestern of today is the result of many consoli- dations. Its first construction in Wisconsin, in 1854, ran southwest from Fond du Lac some eighteen miles to Hori- con lake. Several short lines consolidated in the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac railroad company, which by the close of 1859 could offer continuous service from Oshkosh

15 Balthasar H. Meyer, A History of the Northern Securities Case, Uni- versity of Wisconsin Bulletins, Economics and Political Science Series, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 229-232. 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 395 to Janesville, where it made connections for Chicago. But consolidation had not saved this line from bankruptcy. An association of its bondholders, in 1859, assumed the name 'Chicago and Northwestern railway company.' William B. Ogden, one of the most active financiers of Chicago in his day, was president of the Northwestern from 1859 to 1868. By 1864 the company could give continuous service from Chicago by way of Janesville to Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Appleton, and Green Bay. Early in 1864 it took over a bankrupt line, the Kenosha and Rockford , which represented Kenosha's hope of a connection with the Mississippi. This brought the trackage up to 315 miles. The next consolidation, and one of the most important, was with an Illinois rival, the Galena and Chicago Union. The nucleus of this line had been chartered in 1836, had its first construction in 1847, and is therefore the oldest part of the Northwestern system. At the time of the consolidation in 1864 the Galena road had one line, the original one, that ran from Chicago to Freeport, a branch west to the Missis- sippi where it linked up with an Iowa line, and a branch to Janesville and Madison. The Galena road including what it held by leases brought the system up to 800 miles. The name, Northwestern, was retained, and Mr. Ogden continued as president.16 At this time the officers of the Northwestern were awake to the opportunities in Upper Michigan where there were developments in copper, iron, and lumber. The Peninsula railroad company, officered by officials of the Northwestern, built a line northward from Escanaba, Michigan, to Lake Superior. Construction began in 1863 and soon reached

18 Report of the Railroad Commissioners, 1874. See part ii, 'Official Papers,' Railway statistics, 101-107; W. H. Stennett, Yesterday and Today: A History of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway System (3rd ed.; Chicago, 1910); Canute- son, op. cit., 137-156, and maps. 396 William F. Raney [June

Negaunee, where connection was made with the port of Marquette, twelve miles to the east, by means of the Mar- quette, Houghton and Ontonagon railroad. For many years this was a mere spur, about twenty-five miles in length, running west from Marquette to Negaunee and beyond to a point later called Champion. This and the Peninsula railway were the only ones in Upper Michigan as late as 1870. In October, 1864, the Peninsula railway became a part of the Northwestern system. To bridge the gap between this and its railhead at Green Bay, the Northwestern maintained a line of steamers that plied thence to Escanaba. At the end of 1872 the two towns were linked by rail. This made the second all-rail route to Lake Superior. By building from Green Bay to the state line at Marinette the Northwestern fulfilled requirements with reference to the eastern part of the land grant of 1856, and ultimately acquired title thereby to 546,446 acres of land.17 In 1882 the Northwestern bought the majority of the stock of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha, commonly called the Omaha road. It is still maintained under its own name, but is intimately connected with the North- western system. When it was acquired in 1882, it already extended in a great curve from Elroy, Wisconsin, northwest and then west to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and from there it swept southwest to Omaha. With its branches it had 1,147 miles of track. We are concerned here only with its Wis- consin lines. The Omaha was the result of a process of growth too long and involved to be detailed here. The lines of the Omaha on the map of northwestern Wisconsin at any time after 1883 have the form of a great letter X with a line across the bottom of it, and Lake Superior at the top. The line across

1T Merk, op. cit., 281, citing United States Land Office Report, 1910, 23. 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 397 the bottom is the West Wisconsin line from Elroy to Hud- son built in 1868 to 1872. The lines composing the letter X were built between 1871 and 1883. The lower left-hand line started its slow progress northeasterly from Hudson in 1871, and the upper ends were completed in 1883 when both Superior and Bayfield were reached. The lower right-hand line, from Eau Claire to Spooner, was finished in 1882. Since that time two branches have been struck off to the eastward, one to Hannibal and one to Park Falls. The several parts of the Omaha group received under federal land grants no less than 1,288,000 acres, most of it valuable timber land.18 The Northwestern acquired still another outlet in the western part of the state. Back in 1857 a company had been chartered, called the La Crosse, Trempealeau, Fountain City and Prescott to build a line joining the cities named in its title. Before any construction was done, the local company passed into the hands of D. N. Barney and company of New York, who had also secured the Winona and St. Peter road in Minnesota. In 1867 the Chicago and Northwestern bought the Barney interests, and a part of the line projected in 1857 was built, from La Crosse as far as the mouth of the Trempealeau river, just across the Mississippi from Winona, Minnesota. At the same time the Northwestern built what was called the Baraboo Air line, 126 miles in length, from Madison by way of Lodi, Baraboo, and Elroy to La Crosse. This line came into use in September, 1873, and not only made the connection with the West Wisconsin at Elroy already mentioned, but gave another route into Minnesota. In 1893 the Northwestern purchased a majority of stock in the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western, commonly called the Lake Shore lines, which served not only the lake

18 Ibid., 283, same citation. 398 William F. Rcmey [June

shore cities but ultimately traversed, by several partly par- allel lines, the great pine forests of northern Wisconsin in the eastern half of the state and also tapped the iron and copper resources of both Wisconsin and Michigan. The man who had most to do with the inception of this road was Joseph Vilas of Manitowoc, and its principal later promoter was F. W. Rhinelander.19 In 1883 a number of lines, some of them already mentioned, ended their separate existence by being absorbed in the Northwestern. One was the line that Sheboygan had undertaken to build to the Mississippi, which reached Fond du Lac in 1869. Another was the Chicago and Milwaukee, a subsidiary company since 1865. Still another was the Northwestern Union, built from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac in 1872 and 1873. Lastly there was the line from Milwaukee to Madison built in 1882. Within the twentieth century the Northwestern has completed two more lines into Upper Michigan, one from Monico to Hurley and the other from near Green Bay to Saunders, Michigan. The last significant addition to the system was the line, partly rebuilt but largely new, from Milwaukee northwest to Sparta, a distance of about 170 miles. William B. Ogden was president from 1859 to 1868. Then within five years there were three presidents, one of them being Alexander Mitchell of Milwaukee. For nine months in 1869 and 1870 he controlled almost all of the railways in Wisconsin. Albert Keep was president from 1873 to 1887, and he was followed by Marvin Hughitt (1887-1910). Today the Northwestern system boasts of more than 10,000 miles of its own lines, and by means of intimate connections with the Union Pacific it is able to give

19 See sketch of Joseph Vilas in The Columbian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of the Representative Men of the United States: Wisconsin Volume (Chicago: Lewis publishing company, 1895), 233-237. 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 399 service to the Pacific coast. Including the Omaha lines, which now amount to nearly 800 miles in Wisconsin, the Northwestern system counts about 3,000 miles, or about three-sevenths of the railways in Wisconsin.

THE WISCONSIN CENTRAL AND THE SOO The Wisconsin Central railway was a belated result of the land grant of 1864. The federal act stipulated that a road should be built from Portage City, Berlin, Fond du Lac or Doty's Island (Neenah-Menasha) to Bayfield and Superior. Several companies, formed between 1866 and 1871 with ambitions to earn the offered lands, consolidated in July, 1871, as the Wisconsin Central railroad company, and Gardner Colby, a capitalist of Boston, became president. Actual construction of the main line from Menasha by way of Stevens Point to Ashland extended over a six-year period from 1871 to 1877. This was the first Wisconsin railroad to reach Lake Superior. In Minnesota a line had joined St. Paul and Duluth in 1870, while in Upper Michi- gan, Escanaba and Marquette had been linked in 1863 or 1864, and Escanaba was connected by rail with Green Bay at the close of 1872. The Wisconsin Central, therefore, was the third line to reach Lake Superior. To fulfill the conditions of the land grant as interpreted by the state government, the same company also built a line from Portage to Stevens Point. To get connections with Milwaukee the company, in November, 1873, leased the Milwaukee and Northern. This line had been completed in June of that year, and ran from Milwaukee east of Lake Winnebago to Green Bay, with a branch to Menasha. In 1882 the Wis- consin Central terminated this lease, and instead built a line along the west side of Lake Winnebago and on down to Sleisingerville, now Slinger, whence it leased trackage into 400 William F. Rcmey [June

Milwaukee. This southward line was afterwards continued from Sleisingerville to Chicago. From the main line laid down in 1871 to 1877 various other branches were subsequently constructed, the most important being the one from Abbotsford in Marathon county almost straight west by way of Chippewa Falls to St. Paul, built in part in 1880 and completed in 1884. Another went from Mellen eastward to Hurley and Bessemer to supply the iron country in the western part of Upper Michigan. From an early period the Wisconsin Central worked in cooperation with the Northern Pacific. This company had terminals in St. Paul, and after 1885 one in Ashland, and the Wisconsin Central offered a natural connection with Chi- cago. In 1889 the Northern Pacific leased the Chicago terminals of the Wisconsin Central and by a traffic agreement ran its trains out of Chicago for the Pacific coast over the Wisconsin Central. In 1893 this arrangement was terminated. About the same time the Wisconsin Central company failed, and after long delay a new company, called the Wis- consin Central railway company, took charge. In 1906 was begun the construction of a new line from Owen, just west of Abbotsford, by way of Ladysmith to Superior and Du- luth. This afforded the shortest route from Chicago to the western end of Lake Superior. In 1909, before this line was completed, the Wisconsin Central was absorbed by the Soo. By this combination a distinctively Wisconsin enterprise ended its separate existence. As the first line in the northern part of the state, the Wisconsin Central deserves special attention. Its construction preceded settlement, and there were no places along the route to bond themselves. Eastern capitalists, of whom Gardner Colby was the chief, put about $9,000,000 into the enterprise. The company received about 837,000 acres of 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 401 government land; in fact, the line was built to get the land. The railroad promoters sold the land to lumbermen almost at once and did not receive for it what they might have had, had they held it longer. The two men, who more than any others developed the Wisconsin Central system, were Charles Colby, son of Gardner Colby, and long a leading citizen of Milwaukee, and Edwin H. Abbot.20 The Minneapolis, Sault Ste Marie and Atlantic railway company was organized in 1883, and during the next four years it built its way across north central Wisconsin. It ran from Minneapolis, by way of Cameron and Rhinelander, to Escanaba and Sault Ste Marie. From 1888 onwards the Canadian Pacific had a controlling interest in the company. In 1900, it became the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste Marie, the 'Soo' of popular parlance. In 1909 it absorbed the Wisconsin Central and completed that company's line to Superior and Duluth. The last significant addition to the Soo was a line built by a separate company from North Crandon southward by way of Shawano to Appleton, and Neenah, where it connected with the main line of the old Wisconsin Central to Chicago. This line, which was projected as early as 1906, was completed in 1918 and purchased by the Soo in 1921. It was built chiefly to bring wood to the pulp and paper mills of Appleton and vicinity.

OTHER LINES The Green Bay and Western is the longest independent line entirely within the state of Wisconsin. It was chartered under another name in 1866, and in 1871 was constructed from Green Bay to New London. During 1873 it reached the Mississippi river, and by arrangement its trains crossed from Marshland, Wisconsin, to Winona, Minnesota, by the

20 Canuteson, op. cit., 157-199, and maps. 402 William F. Baney [June

Northwestern tracks. The company was rather frequently in financialdifficulties , and there were successive foreclosures, reorganizations, and changes of name, the present title dat- ing from 1896. In the early 1890's it fathered two subsidiary companies whereby it provides the only railway facilities for the counties of Door and Kewaunee. Several railroads, great in other states, have entered Wisconsin only in a small way. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy has 222 miles of trackage in Wisconsin, its main line in this state following the Mississippi river rather closely from the border of Illinois to Prescott whence it crosses into Minnesota. This line was completed in 1886. The Illinois Central has a line coming north from Freeport. It soon divides, the eastern branch going to Madison and the other to Dodgeville. The Northern Pacific and the Great Northern both aspired to open up the Northwest and link the western end of Lake Superior with the Pacific coast. The Northern Pacific was chartered in 1866, and was supported by the great banking firm of Jay Cooke and company of Phila- delphia. It was built westward from Duluth across Minne- sota, and plans had been made for building eastward into Wisconsin when Jay Cooke failed and the panic of 1873 came on. A line was at length built out of Duluth and Superior to Ashland in 1884, a great bridge across the St. Louis river was finished in 1885, and in 1898 a branch was run to Washburn on the western shore of Chequamegon bay. The Great Northern railway was the life work of James J. Hill, who presided over its destinies from its small beginnings about 1876 until 1907, and built it from Duluth to the Pacific coast. It has only about 40 miles in Wisconsin. In 1885 a large tract of land at West Superior was bought to be used for terminals by this.railroad to connect with lake 1936] Building of Wisconsin Railroads 403 shipping, and large grain elevators and ore docks were built. The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic has 108 miles in Wisconsin and more in Upper Michigan. It runs from Duluth eastward by way of Iron River and crosses the Montreal river into Upper Michigan a little north of Hurley.21

21 One of the clearest maps of Wisconsin, and especially useful in studying railroads is the 'Railroad Map of Wisconsin. Railroad Commission of Wiscon- sin, 1929/ THE WESTWARD TRAIL

W. A. TITUS

CHAPTER V N 1844 Lapham's Description of Wisconsin was published I in Milwaukee, and a number of copies were sold in the eastern section of the country, particularly in New York and New England. This small volume, now so rare that a copy is almost a curiosity, came to the attention of my uncle, Joseph Titus, who brought the book to his father's home in New York. This identical volume with its time-stained pages is before me as I write. With astonishing accuracy it de- scribes the geography and topography of Wisconsin, the types of soil and their relative fertility, the wooded areas and the undulating prairies, the elevations, the lakes, and the streams. I. A. Lapham was a skilled observer as well as a land surveyor and real estate dealer, so his book served a twofold purpose. In this work Lapham makes the following reference to Fond du Lac county:

A high and steep ledge of limestone rock extends through the county from northeast to southwest, running along the west [east] side of Lake Winnebago, which appears to be the dividing line between the heavily timbered land on the east, and the prairie and open land forming! the west part of the county. The 'Military road' from Green Bay to the Mississippi, runs around the south end of the lake, and recently a road has been opened from this point to Milwaukee, thus affording the citizens of Fond du Lac a choice of lake ports at which to transact their commercial business. And again: The villages of Fond du Lac and Taycheeda are . . . near the southern extremity of Lake Winnebago. The former was laid out as early The Westward Trail 405 as 1835, by the 'Fond du Lac Company/ on the Soocheerah or Fond du Lac river, at the site of an old village of the Winnebago Indians. Its situation is beautiful, on land gradually rising from the lake, with scattered groves and clumps of trees. It is sixty-four miles from Milwaukee, and sixty from Green Bay. The Soocherah [sic] is navigable nearly two miles from its mouth, at which point it receives the Seven Mile creek from the west; above it runs with a rapid current, between high banks. The proposed connection (by means of a canal) with Rock river, will be along the valley of this stream. The village of Taycheeda, situated near the southeast angle of Lake Winnebago, has sprung up within a few years, and now bids fair to out- strip all the other places in the county. An extensive mercantile estab- lishment, tavern, and numerous handsome dwellings, with several mechanic's shops, constitute the embryo town. In general, Wisconsin was pictured to prospective settlers as a favored locality where wealth lurked just beneath the surface, and where only willing and able hands were needed to extract it. There can be no doubt that this little book did much to direct emigration toward the trans-lake region; the ten years from 1845 to 1855 brought large accessions to the population of Wisconsin. Grandfather Titus was fifty years old when the emigration fever gripped the family. He had never been unduly ambitious, even in his younger days, so he suggested that it would be better to have Uncle Joseph, the oldest son, go to the new country and then report back to the family. This was done in 1852 when our uncle was twenty-two years of age. He located a few miles east of Fond du Lac, whence he sent glowing reports back to the relatives in New York. Within a short time the entire family came West and settled in the neighborhood so highly recommended by the son who had preceded them. Father was next oldest of the surviving children and was just twenty-one when he began to make his way against frontier handicaps. As Uncle Joseph lived to the age of ninety-seven, and father and mother were both eighty-two when they passed away, there was ample oppor- 406 TV. A. Titus [June tunity to hear from them the story of the winning of the wilderness. The history of the pioneers of Wisconsin prior to the period of the Civil war is, for the most part, a narrative of struggle and hardship and poverty. From this it must not be inferred that there were no pleasant experiences in the routine of their lives. Possibly they enjoyed themselves as well, if not better, than the people of today. They were usually happy and hopeful. As a rule, all lived alike and dressed alike, so the element of envy and the striving to outshine one's neighbors was practically unknown. There were a few exceptions to the usual condition of struggle and poverty; these were men who had come from the East with considerable money, had bought their land and paid for it and built good homes, and still had a comfortable surplus in cash. They became a type of moneyed aristocrats who loaned to their needy neighbors at interest rates sometimes as high as 25 per cent. Among some old papers in my possession is a canceled note given by a farmer in the town of Empire to Lyman H. Phillips. The amount of the note is $500, and the interest rate is stated flatly as 25 per cent per annum. Whether an additional charge or 'commission' was made for granting the loan is, of course, unknown, but it was not an unusual condition that a 'shave' must be paid in, addition to ;the abnormal interest rate; this was deducted from the principal when the cash was turned over to the borrower. These border Shylocks were well regarded in their limited social circles, but among the struggling farmers they were privately execrated as oppressors who must not be openly antagonized because they had the power and the will to make or to break many of the pioneers. As most of the land in the eastern part of the county was covered with primeval forests, the first effort of the settler 1936] The Westward Trail 407 was to get enough of the land cleared to make place for a log house and for a patch of vegetables. To dig out the stumps took much time and labor, so the first crops were planted among these obstacles. To plow the land under such conditions was impossible; usually the roots and net- work of wild vegetation were chopped up with a hand mat- tock, all requiring the most exacting labor. Potatoes, turnips, and common garden vegetables, with buckwheat and rye for flour, constituted the food supply of the average family for the first two or three years. To make these coarse foods more palatable, maple sugar and wild honey were added as products of the forests. There was always a meat supply from the wild game. Roasted rye made an indifferent substitute for coffee. So monotonous did these articles of food become that many of the children acquired a dislike for rye bread and buckwheat cakes that persisted throughout their lives. However, with vegetables growing freely in season, and beets, carrots, parsnips, and other root crops stored for winter use in cellars or sidehill dugouts, the diet seems to have been a healthful one. There was no lack of disease and premature death in the community, but most of the sickness seemed to arise from impure water and the malaria (commonly called 'chills and fever') which emanated from the thick deposits of decayed vegetable matter in the undrained areas. Usually, after a year or two, the pioneer farmer acquired a team of oxen, a cow or two, and some pigs. The cows roamed at large through the forests, each with a bell attached to its neck to betray its whereabouts. The dog, man's friend under all conditions, was usually a part of the family. It was useful to bring in the cows and to trail the wild animals that were sought for food or for their pelts. 408 W. A. Titus [June

Physicians were few in number and usually far away when needed, so the housewives became the guardians of the family health. Every neighborhood had its midwife, and little ceremony attended the entrance of a child into the world. The settlers learned to rely on the medicinal value of numerous herbs and weeds; boneset tea was reputed to cure headaches and stomach disturbances; catnip tea was excellent for colic; wild thyme, spearmint, and smartweed were specifics for colds which were thus 'sweated' out of the system; mandrake root was the accepted cathartic; burdock roots and yellow! dock roots were 'blood purifiers'; golden- seal was thought to cure sore throats; wormwood and tansy were accepted applications for bruises and sprains, and the list could be almost indefinitely extended by any of the older residents. Much of this confidence continues to the present time when 'patent medicines' supposed to contain these herb extracts are sold in large quantities. Sweating and bleeding the patient were approved methods of treatment.. Goose grease, skunks' oil, bear fat, and even slabs of fat pork were supposed to be beneficial when applied externally. While many of these home remedies had undoubted merit and were the best that could be used under the circumstances, they were not uniformly efficacious as is evidenced by the large proportion of young people whose names are inscribed on the tombstones of the period. Almost any old cemetery may be taken as an exhibit.

CHAPTER VI Most children hear more folk lore from their mothers than from their fathers. I was no exception to this rule, so my information relating to pioneer conditions in Wisconsin prior to the Civil war came largely through my grandmothers and my mother, the latter of whom was seven years of age 1936] The Westward Trail 409 when she came to the new state in 1852. Then Grandfather Baer was a pioneer and trail blazer in a larger sense than was our paternal grandfather. The former was younger, stronger, and more ambitious, and with his own hands cleared a large farm; the latter had more than half a century of his life behind him when he came West and was thus content to see the hard work done by others. I was a youth in my later teens before Grandfather Baer died, so I have a distinct recollection of him and of the stories he sometimes told of early happenings. He was a massive man in stature; his full beard was streaked with gray as I first remember him, but became snowy white before his death. He was good looking, soft spoken, and very well liked by his neighbors. He was not accustomed to talk much, and it was only by some urging that he could be induced to speak of his early experiences. One of the stories that intrigued my boyish interest was his account of the meteoric shower or 'falling stars' of 1833. He stated that at that time he was working on the New York side of the river and had been out to a dance that evening. He started home at about two o'clock in the morning and found that the skies were raining fire. Everywhere falling as thickly as snow- flakes were masses of fire from the size of a man's fist down to mere sparks. At first it seemed to him that no one could live in such a fiery bombardment, but he soon found that while the masses of fire seemed to strike the ground and the persons who were exposed, no sensation of heat or impact was apparent; they just seemed to strike some terrestrial object and then disappear. He said there was no part of the heavens that seemed free from this remarkable coruscation. The rural people of western New York were sure the world was coming to an end, and that the display they were wit- nessing was merely the beginning of the scripturally fore- 410 W. A. Titus [June told destruction of the world by fire. Some were praying; others were too paralyzed by their fears to do more than stare dumbly and wait. In a short time the phenomenon had disappeared, but the superstitious were sure it was a warning of more ominous things to follow. There have been meteoric showers since as there were before 1833, but the display of that year seems to have outrivaled all others that have been recorded. So far as I remember or have ever heard, grandfather's only vice was tobacco chewing. He raised his own tobacco, dried it beneath the rafters of the granary, and finally got a finished product so strong that it seemed fit only for an in- secticide. Despite its excess nicotine content, he chewed it and seemed to enjoy it. His ability to expectorate with almost unerring aim was somewhat uncanny. In this connection an amusing incident occurred when I was about twelve years old. I was walking with him one Sunday afternoon along the pasture fence when an ugly bull on the other side came toward us with an undue display of hostility. The rather substantial fence and the equally substantial grandfather allayed my fears, and I rather enjoyed the antics of the bellowing brute. When he had approached within six or eight feet of the fence, grandfather let him have a charge of tobacco juice which caught him directly in one of his eyes. The surprise and pain of the bull were amusing to me, especially as I had a grudge of long standing against the animal. He got down on his side and tried to wipe his eye in the grass. Grandfather watched the beast for a few min- utes with unconcern, then turned and walked away without saying a word. I much enjoyed my childhood visits at the home of my maternal grandparents. There were two aunts in the family, young sisters of my mother, who were only a few years older 1936] The Westward Trail 411 than I. There was a large pond near the barn. The boys had built a raft which we navigated with some difficulty on this small body of water. Sometimes, when overloaded, the awkward craft sank down on one side and threw us into the water up to our necks. A small creek flowed through the farm; occasionally, I was lucky enough to catch a fair-sized pick- erel. The happiest time of all for me was in the autumn when the hazelnuts, hickory nuts, and butternuts were ripe. Then my uncles, known in the home as 'the boys,' would take me on long trips during which they filled grain bags with nuts of one kind or another. The younger of the uncles would climb the trees, crawl out on the branches and shake or thresh them until the ground was covered with the choicest nuts. They were so plentiful at that time that only the trees which produced the largest and choicest varieties were given any attention. Butternuts were the easiest and quickest to gather as the outer husk or shuck did not have to be removed. On many of the undeveloped homesteads two major obstacles to agriculture were encountered; the heavy timber and the glacial or drift stones of all sizes and shapes. The first effort was directed toward the removal of the forest growth. Most of the pioneers were expert axemen, who spent little time in felling the largest tree and cutting it into logs ten or twelve feet long. There was no market for timber, so the most desirable as well as the poorer logs were rolled up together in huge piles, the brush thrown against them, and the torch applied. Millions of feet of excellent timber were thus destroyed to make cleared fields for grain, hay, and other crops. The only practical use for logs in the beginning was in the building of log houses and barns, and, when split, in the construction of the picturesque zigzag rail fences which persisted in many places for the next fifty years. Explosives for blasting out stumps were practically 412 W. A. Titus [June

unknown, and in any case the farmers would not have had the money for purchasing the blasting materials. The usual way for removing these impediments to agriculture was by digging around them and chopping through the roots below the level of cultivation. The labor involved in this process may be imagined, even if not fully appreciated. Year by year more acres were cleared and planted to crops until, by the beginning of the Civil war, almost every farm in the region had cultivated land sufficient to maintain the family in a frugal but fairly comfortable manner. The farm implements used by the pioneers were crude and clumsy. The plow was the most important and probably the best constructed implement on the farm. This was necessary because of the severe requirements which it had to meet on the stony and stumpy land. The harrow was likely to consist of some poles fastened together in which were in- serted hickory pegs or teeth to stir the surface soil and to cover the grain after it was sown. Some farmers, lacking even this primitive harrow, dragged treetops over the surface to cover the seed that had been broadcast by hand. To sow grain evenly by hand required considerable skill, but many of the farmers could do this as well as did the broadcast seeders that came later with the more general use of improved farm machinery. The common hoe and spade, usually made by a blacksmith, were humble but valued tools. Hay was cut with a scythe; the wild hay that grew in the marshes was at first almost the only winter fodder for cattle. Grain was gathered with a grain cradle, a peculiarly constructed implement with a broad cutting blade at the bottom and a series of curved wooden fingers above, which, in the hands of a skilled operator, retained the ripened grain and laid it perfectly straight with the heads at one side of the swathe and the butts at the other. It was then raked into 1936] The Westward Trail 413 bundles with a wooden rake and bound into sheaves with straw bands. Much rivalry developed among the men in making these bands and tying up the bundles in the shortest possible time. As there were no threshing machines in the early days, two methods of threshing grain were used. Sometimes a circular threshing floor was prepared as in biblical days by packing clay for a surface and letting it dry in the sun; then the sheaves were spread out in the circle, and a team of oxen attached to a center post were driven around and around until the grain was beaten from the chaff. The other method of threshing was with the hand flail, consisting of a handle to the end of which was attached by means of a leather thong a wooden beater which was shorter and larger in diameter than the handle. The work done by this implement was effective, but slow and tiresome. Efficient use of the flail required enough skill to cause the beater to strike evenly on the bed of the straw; if it did not, it was likely to bound back and in- flict a smart blow on the head or body of the operator. Both the trampling and the flailing processes required a later winnowing to separate the grain from the loosened chaff. This was done outside in a gentle breeze which carried the chaff away and allowed the grain to fall on a canvas sheet. After the grain was thoroughly cleaned, it was of ten necessary to take it many miles before reaching a mill where it could be ground into the all-important flour. The miller received his compensation in the form of 'toll'; that is, he retained an agreed number of pounds of grain out of each bushel brought for milling. By 1860 flour mills had been built wherever there was water power sufficient to turn the machinery. Where the head of water was high above the mill, small streams could be utilized by using the large over- shot wheel equipped with buckets that filled at the top and 414 TV. A. Titus [June carried the wheel around by the weight of the water on the descending side. These receptacles were emptied as soon as they reached the lowest point on the revolving wheel. The weight of the water in the numerous buckets was so great that the slow moving wheel could be geared to move the mill machinery at high speed. Of course, the streams were much larger then than now; some of the creeks that then furnished abundant power are now dry or mere rivulets at best. There were no machine shops; millwrights, carpenters, and blacksmiths built practically everything that went into the mills or was used around the homes and on the farms. One of the charming features of the forest region was the great variety of wild animals, game birds, and song birds. Black bear, wolves, wildcats, and deer were seen occasionally; while foxes, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, mink, musk- rats, and otter were too numerous to attract much attention except when hunted for food or fur. Any casual stroller in the woods was sure to see a number of different animals and birds that today are of sufficient importance to be protected by statutes. The rifle and the shotgun were a part of the equipment of every pioneer home; the game brought down by these trusty weapons formed an important part of the food supply of the family. All weapons were muzzle loaded; the shot or bullets were carried in a leather pouch and the powder in an oxhorn, carved and fashioned to suit the taste of the owner. In winter the boys of the household gathered in a few dollars by trapping fur-bearing animals for their pelts. The forested areas of Wisconsin at the time of the arrival of early settlers can be well described by quoting the following excerpt from the writings of Francis Parkman: 'One vast, continuous forest shadowed the fertile soil, cover- ing the land as the grass covers the garden lawn, sweeping over hill and hollow in endless undulation, burying mountains 1936] The Westward Trail 415

in verdure, and mantling brooks and rivers from the light of day.' A detailed description of the game birds of Wisconsin would form an interesting chapter. There were many varieties of wild ducks, all excellent for food, but then as now, the wild geese or Canada honkers were the monarchs of the skies. Their aerial movements were a perfect exhibition of the 'flying* wedge' with the leader at the apex, and the fol- lowers trailed out in two diverging lines like the arms of a V. These birds exhibited a more than human instinct in the pre- cautions they took when alighting for food. Sentinels were posted to give the alarm to the flock as soon as there was a suspicious sound or scent. For this reason it was always difficult to approach near enough to shoot one of the birds; when one was occasionally secured, it was considered quite a feat. Sometimes when one of the flock had been killed or injured, the leader would risk his life to rescue his unfortunate follower. These large birds were fond of corn and wheat, both when the grain was ripened and when it was in the growing stage and only a few inches above ground. Quail were numerous but so easily approached by the hunter that they soon grew fewer in number. In winter when food was scarce on their native heaths, they would occasionally enter the barnyards to pick up whatever could be found to sustain life. They were pretty and harmless birds, and their cheery calls in the morning always attracted the attention of the lonely settlers. The woods partridge was another interesting bird, much used for food. The drumming of the partridge could be heard for long distances and too often brought the hunter within range. Of all the game birds of pioneer days, the most numerous were the passenger pigeons, now wholly extinct. In my childhood days some small flocks were still left, and I re- 416 W. A. Titus [June member trailing after my uncle when he tried to shoot a few for a potpie. Mother often told me of the prodigious numbers of these birds that, in the early fifties, blackened the sky and all but shut out the sunshine when they were on the wing. This was soon after grandfather's family came from New York when the population was sparse in Wis- consin, and the pigeons had not yet been disturbed to any great extent. They were not easily taken when flying as their movements were very rapid, but at their roosting and breeding places they could be and were slaughtered by un- told thousands. From these shambles the poor birds were hauled away in wagonloads. So merciless was this persecu- tion that the passenger pigeons thinned out rapidly, and by 1880 few if any were left of the millions that had filled the air thirty years before. In the early days when grain was sown by hand, it was not uncommon for these birds to alight in the fields and devour the seed before it could be harrowed into the ground. This species was the most beautiful of the pigeon family and the largest in size, the average specimen being about seventeen inches long. The Wisconsin song birds of the pioneer period did not differ materially from those found in the same regions today, except that they were probably more numerous. Every tree sheltered these songsters and, to those of the settlers who noticed the beauties of nature at all, the music of the many different birds must have come as a welcome diversion. The robins, thrushes, larks, and bobolinks were the most musical. The preservation of these birds depended largely on the fact that they were not considered fit for food. Eagles, hawks, and owls were the birds of prey found in the Wisconsin forests. It was only on rare occasions that an eagle was seen, but children were filled with terror at the mere mention of the bird. They had been told repeatedly 1936] The Westward Trail 417 that an eagle did not hesitate to attack and carry away a child. Except in possible cases of very small children, these stories were quite likely exaggerations which had lost nothing of their horror as they were passed on from family to family. Hawks and owls of several species were numerous. As the hawks committed their depredations by daylight, they were regarded as the most obnoxious of the flyers. It was fascinating to watch these birds as they remained poised hundreds of feet in the air with no visible movement. Then when a chicken, a rabbit, or other small animal exposed itself, the hawk would drop as swiftly and noiselessly as an arrow and fix its claws in the unfortunate victim. Heavy tolls were taken by these pests from the flocks of domestic fowls which were kept by the settlers. The larger types of owls were equally vicious and destructive, but they operated under cover of darkness when farmyard fowls were less exposed.

CHAPTER VII The educational opportunities of this early period were necessarily limited. The older members of the families, who had come from New York or New England, had usually received fair educations in their former localities; the children of these immigrants were less fortunate, although schools of a kind were established in the pioneer rural districts as soon as possible. It is worthy of note that the first tax-supported public school west of the Alleghenies, some say west of New England, was organized at Kenosha, Wis- consin territory, in 1845.1 The rural or district schools of the pre-Civil war period, and for some years thereafter, had very limited resources; the teachers were meagerly equipped for educational work, taught for a pittance, and

1 Joseph Schafer, Four Wisconsin Counties, Prairie and Forest (Madison, 1927), 198-202. 418 W. A. Titus [June

'boarded around' among the families of the pupils. The average teacher of that period had less education than has the bright twelve-year-old pupil of the present day. Regard- less of their deficiency in academic training, many of these pioneer teachers were excellent instructors in their limited field and did much for their small charges. In time every child came to have an opportunity to learn to read, write, and 'cipher.' Ethics and morality were a part of the school curriculum, and the result was a future generation of stable and upright citizens. This does not mean that these pupils were without faults when they reached adult years; however, the fact remains that criminal offenses were few and far between in the rural sections. News of the outside world rarely filtered into the settlements; such information as came from the weekly newspapers was almost wholly of local interest. A crime committed in Chicago or New York was rarely mentioned in the local papers. Years later, when newspapers began to spe- cialize in sensational headlines, many of the older people were sure that crime and criminals were increasing more rapidly than the population, and that the world was approaching the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. The rural population of early Wisconsin was made up of hard-working and, quite generally, of God-fearing people who, in their own neighborhoods, saw little of the seamy side of life and knew almost nothing of the happenings in the larger cen- ters of population. Notwithstanding their isolation, it was known among the farmers that the slavery question was widening the breach between the North and the South. This was a question in which the clergy were deeply interested, and these ministers kept their congregations well informed on what they considered a great moral issue. The anti-slavery sentiment was 1936] The Westward Trail 419 pronounced in eastern Wisconsin. New York and New England people had brought these convictions with them, while the German settlers, who had left their own country to become citizens in a land of freedom, could not understand our tolerance of human slavery in the enlightened nineteenth century. Carl Schurz, an educated and militant Ger- man who came to Wisconsin in 1852, did much to consolidate the views of his countrymen against slavery. It was during this troubled period that runaway slaves found helping hands among the Wisconsin pioneers, regardless of the federal statutes which prohibited such assistance. To the early settlers the building of the first railroad in eastern Wisconsin was a great event. It meant an outlet for the products of the farms and sawmills and inaugurated an era of expansion that has gone on steadily through the years. The first railroad in Wisconsin was a short line from Mil- waukee to Waukesha; the second was a line from Fond du Lac to Chester (now East Waupun). Each of these railways was about twenty miles in length. The first was the nucleus of a steam line from Milwaukee to the Mississippi river; the second was the beginning of rail transportation from the Fox river valley to Chicago. Each year a few miles of new track were constructed until the vision of the promoters was realized. The first two locomotives for the Fond du Lac railroad came over the same route as that followed by the early settlers. They were shipped by boat to Sheboygan and then hauled by oxen over the wagon road to Fond du Lac. It is said that fourteen teams of oxen were hitched to one of these locomotives, and that the heavy machine was moved some days not to exceed eighty rods in twenty-four hours. They finally arrived in Fond du Lac, covered with mud but not otherwise injured, although the 420 W. A. Titus [June new plank road over which these locomotives were hauled was badly damaged in places. The completion of the railroad between Fond du Lac and Chicago was the occasion for a grand celebration. Also, it brought about the first major railway disaster in the history of the state. A large delegation from Chicago came to Fond du Lac to take part in the festivities. The town was deco- rated with flags and bunting as the two locomotives, hauling twenty-five passenger cars, came in with the Chicago visitors. After a day and a night of entertainment the Chicago people returned, having in the meantime arranged with their Fond du Lac hosts to come to Chicago later for another celebration. November 1, 1859, nineteen days later, fourteen coaches filled with people from Fond du Lac and other points along the northern portion of the line started out to attend the Chicago jubilee. Like all railroad coaches of that period, the cars were not strongly built and they were packed with passengers. As a measure of safety the orders were that the speed of the train should not exceed ten miles an hour. All went well until the train was about a quarter mile north of Johnson Creek, then called Belleville. At this point an ox, alarmed by the approaching train, ran directly in front of it and became entangled in the unprotected culvert. By the impact the locomotive and five coaches were thrown from the track, the cars being smashed into splinters. In this wreck fourteen persons lost their lives, and a much greater number injured. Among the killed were several prominent citizens of Fond du Lac. Years afterward eye-witnesses of the disaster stated that the scenes in the demolished cars were shocking. In the sparsely populated rural sections the accident was a topic of conversation for weeks. It was freely predicted that railroad transportation was so dangerous 1936] The Westward Trail 421 that it never would become practical for passengers but would probably be all right for freight. The countryside was gradually becoming more thickly settled and more prosperous when, suddenly, southern seces- sion became a reality, and the call to arms echoed through the settlements. That hostilities could be prolonged did not seem possible; the superiority of the North in population and resources appeared to warrant a speedy subjugation of the rebellious states, and this was confirmed by the call of Presi- dent Lincoln for a three-month enlistment term. The re- sponse from Wisconsin was prompt and enthusiastic. The young men, no doubt, were actuated by patriotic motives and by their aversion to the institution of slavery, but the ad- venture and the prospect of seeing the southland at government expense were probably secondary motives. Their bitter experiences during the next four years thoroughly disil- lusioned such of the soldier boys as survived the ordeal. In the little neighborhood where our grandparents lived with their children yet unmarried, more than half of the young men went into the army. Four of the boys from the Titus family and two from the Baer family enlisted, which meant all the young men of the required age from both families. Of these six, four were in one company of the Four- teenth regiment, Wisconsin volunteer infantry. They felt that this grouping would insure them congenial company, but with detached service, illness and wounds, there were never more than two of them in the company at any one time. Neither father nor any of the five uncles ever talked much about their experiences in the army, but recently a considerable number of wartime letters, belonging to my mother, came to my notice. They were from father, then an interested but not a sentimental suitor; from her brothers; and from several cousins who were also in the service. When con- 422 W. A. Titus [June ditions were bad and the suffering was extreme, the tone of the letters suggested resignation instead of recrimination or resentment. Always these letters expressed the feeling that the issue was in the hands of a Divine Providence who would eventually give the victory to the union army. Undoubtedly, there were just as many of the southern people who were confident of the favor of the God of their fathers. At the battle of Shiloh one of my uncles stopped a musket bullet that put him out of service for the remainder of the war; this bullet he carried in his body until his death, almost fifty years later. The letters which brought this news to the father and mother at the Wisconsin fireside were matter of fact accounts of the casualty, although the writers were brothers and other near relatives of the wounded soldier. Uncle James, who was something of a wag, wrote home as soon as he was on the way to recovery and said he had got something for nothing from the rebels, and it looked as if he would have to keep it. In the early summer of 1864 father was overcome by a serious illness and was placed in the branch hospital at Rome, Georgia, where he remained nearly four months before he was able to rejoin his regiment. His letters during this period seem pathetic as one reads them sixty years later; he expressed doubt as to the outcome of his illness, but at no time did he seem to despair wholly of ultimate recovery. He wrote of the depressing atmosphere of the place, caused by the numbers who died each week and were carried out to a soldier's grave. When he entered the improvised hospital (it had been used to print confederate currency and had been abandoned hurriedly before the on-coming union army), he was unable to sit up at all, yet he wrote that there were no beds nor bunks in the place, and that he had to lie on the floor with only his army blanket for bedding. In a later letter he 1936] The Westward Trail 423

asks that two or three dollars be sent him to buy postage stamps and some delicacies, as he had received no pay from the government for eight months. After he had rejoined his regiment, and while on a forced march, he wrote that the supply trains had not kept up with the troops, that they had no tents, that they were sleeping on the ground, and that a chilling rain fell nearly every night so that the men were stiffened with cold in the morning. Not once in all these letters is there any censure of the government for seeming neglect ; it was assumed that the government was doing the best it could. For two weeks they had only a pint of raw shelled corn a day for each soldier; the same type of food that was given to the mules. This corn was parched on coals and then ground in hand coffee mills, of which there were several in the company. Of the major battles, the brothers wrote of the Shiloh conflict, the capture of Fort Donelson, the battles around Nashville, and the struggle in the last months of the war at Spanish Fort and Mobile. I have heard mother tell of the excitement among the people of the farming community when news came that President Lincoln had been assassinated. Though none of them had ever seen the great liberator, he was loved as one they really knew. Throughout the long years of the conflict, these simple country people had thought of Lincoln as one of them—a man who had endured the same hardships as themselves, and who understood their problems. They could not understand why a man so kind and considerate should have been murdered before his work of reuniting the country was completed. Some were stunned while others were furi- ous. There were in the neighborhood where our people lived a few southern sympathizers known as 'Copperheads.' When Lincoln was shot some of these malcontents were anything but sorry, and wherever they expressed their sentiments, they 424 TV. A. Titus [June were roughly handled and warned that something worse would happen to them if they persisted in talking. This, of course, was years before my time, but I often heard my parents and others speak of these occurrences. Sometimes at reunions and other meetings of the former soldiers, I heard them discuss the experiences through which they had gone, but to me it all seemed romantic and exciting, and I hoped when I was old enough there might be another war in which I could take part. Since that time I have lived through a minor war and a more recent world war conflict, and more and more I have come to feel that war is a costly, barbarous, and inexcusable method of settling international differences. Like fires and industrial strikes, war entails un- told losses to both victor and vanquished, and the innocent always have to suffer with the guilty. Not infrequently the apparent conqueror is the ultimate loser. Months after the last gun had been fired in the Civil vvar, the bored and homesick soldiers came straggling back to their old neighborhoods, sometimes broken in health and spirits, and, more frequently, without occupation or money. It usually meant starting all over again, often with some type of a handicap. In those years the veterans expected little in the nature of help from the government, and many did not hesitate to say that they had served their country to uphold a cause and without expectation of financial reward. In case of the majority there was a feeling of pride and an absence of greed that could be imitated to advantage by the veterans of later wars. A few of the Civil war soldiers who were actually disabled received small pensions, usually seven to twelve dollars a month, but there was little complaint about the niggardly attitude of the government. Perhaps the money grabbing spirit had not yet gripped these men of 1936] The Westward Trail 425

1861; perhaps they sensed the fact that government could not long continue to pay out money in excess of its income.

CHAPTER VIII The soldier boys from our ancestral families came back and settled in the neighborhood where they had enlisted; all of them became either farmers or carpenters except the one who was wounded at Shiloh; he was unable to do heavy work and learned to be a telegraph operator. Within a few years all were married and were working hard to carry their new responsibilities. It was in an environment such as this that I entered the world nearly four years after the close of the war. I can have no claim to pioneer experiences except as I absorbed the stories from my parents and grandparents. However, this second-hand information Was in itself a valuable experience. In my boyhood days there was still plenty of untamed and untouched land in Wisconsin, and ox teams and crude farm implements could be seen on every hand. The house of Grandfather Baer was a hewn log house that he had built with his own hands many years before, but my parents lived in an old frame house that was not nearly as warm as a well constructed log house. Of this home in which I was born, I still have some vivid recollections. Its out- standing architectural feature was a huge fireplace into which full length cordwood was thrown in large quantities. Witli the fireplace roaring in cold winter weather, the heat near it was almost unbearable, while the remote corners of the room retained a chilling atmosphere that was distinctly uncomfortable. The cost of the fuel consumed was a minor detail; it had no value except the labor involved in cutting down the trees, sawing or chopping them in four-foot lengths, and splitting them. As this was done during spare time in winter, it had ample time to season before the following 426 W. A. Titus [June autumn. Because there were no arrangements for heating the bedrooms, it was customary to heat stones, wrap them in cloth or paper, and place them in the frosty beds where they gave out heat for the greater part of the night. I have some recollection of the snow drifting in through the cracks around the eaves and forming little drifts on the pillows of my attic bed. So far as I remember, my health was never affected by this exposure to the elements. Perhaps it was from their German ancestors that our maternal grandparents inherited and brought with them to Wisconsin a collection of superstitions, signs, and omens which died with them, for their children scoffed at these beliefs and never referred to them in later years except in a facetious way. With the large list of lucky and unlucky events, it seemed that their daily lives as well as the activities of their ancestors must have been guided by superstitions and uncanny ideas. It is not likely that we children remembered all these weird stories that were told us, but many of them linger in my memory. It was always unlucky to walk under a ladder; this is true today if a painter is plying his brush above the pedestrian. Perhaps this was one of the most practical of the prohibitions. The death warnings were most feared; a dog howling at night, a black cat crossing the path ahead of an approaching person, a bird flying into the room were among the most common of these supernatural warnings. It was always unlucky to catch the first glimpse of the new moon over the left shoulder. Any disastrous occurrence following these warnings was talked of for months; if no un- pleasant incident occurred, the omission was overlooked and soon forgotten. As in most cases today, these old time people believed only what they wanted to believe. Some children never had a chance; they were born unlucky, and all their efforts in later life could not overcome 1936] The Westward Trail 427 the handicap. The signs in the heavens were carefully recorded at birth and fixed the status of the individual ever after. Those born under astral conditions deemed unlucky were foreordained to poverty. As that was the condition of most people in the pioneer period, it is quite probable that this omen came to be considered infallible. When the heav- enly bodies were in unholy juxtaposition, it was considered highly hazardous to contract engagements or marriages or to embark in any business enterprise. It has always been remarked that the Pennsylvania Germans had three books in the household: the bible, the hymn book, and the almanac. It is not difficult to understand why the last occupied its important place. It was necessary to know the exact time of the moon's changes, or agricultural effort would have been wasted. All grains grew much better if planted when the moon was waxing. It was necessary to plant some kinds of vegetables when the horns of the moon turned down, others when they turned up. Some garden seeds must be planted in the dark of the moon, others in the full of the moon. If apples were picked in the dark of the moon, they were sure to rot. If domestic animals were killed for food when the moon was growing smaller, the meat would shrivel when cooked. As evidence of the potency of these rules, the early Pennsylvania German colonists could point to their enormous yields of grain and vegetables as compared to the more meager crops of the skeptics. It must not be inferred from this narrative that the Pennsylvania Germans were the only group that was given to signs and omens; many of the immigrants from Europe brought with them similar beliefs, although tl>e ritual usually differed among the different racial groups. The weather signs were too numerous to record; some of them were based on common sense observation and had merit, 428 W. A. Titus [June while others were merely traditional. Among these people, thick husks on corn meant a long cold winter as did also unusual thickness in the walls of the muskrat houses. When hogs were slaughtered and found to have a short and thick spleen, the winter would be short; if the spleen were elon- gated, the winter would be long. If the groundhog saw his shadow on Candlemas day, there would be continued cold weather for another six weeks. A cock crowing in the winter signified a thaw. A red sky in the evening was a sure sign of fair weather next day, while red sky at sunrise was an almost certain indication of rain before nightfall. A circle around the moon betokened a storm within twenty-four hours; the same was true when the leaves of the trees turned upside down in a breeze. If there were no dew in the morning, beware of rain, but a heavy dew indicated fair weather. If a water pitcher or tank 'sweat' on the outer surface, rain was near at hand. A rising fog in the morning meant a sunny day after an hour or two, but beware of the lowering fog. Sun dogs or a thunderstorm in winter were sure signs of extremely cold weather within a day or two. Northern lights or the aurora borealis indicated a 'change in the weather.' One of the most persistent and widely accepted of mys- terious phenomena was the efficacy of the 'divining rod' for locating underground streams when wells had to be dug or drilled. This supposedly miraculous instrument was nothing more than the forked branch of the common willow or other flexible shrub which was held horizontally before the 'water witch' as he walked along, each of his hands grasping firmly a branch of the Y-shaped twig. It was asserted and confidently believed that when the stem of the flexible willow was directly over an underground stream, it dipped or bent toward the earth, despite all the efforts of 1936] The Westward Trail 429 the operator to hold it level. The degree or violence of the bending indicated the depth one was obliged to dig before finding a plentiful supply of water. Not all persons were 'water witches'; those who possessed the magic power were employed by their less gifted neighbors. Although there is not the slightest scientific basis for the assertion, I have heard old settlers say they witnessed the efficacy of the method time after time; to dispute their statement was a sure way to become involved in an unprofitable argument. Ghosts and witches were not wholly discounted in those pioneer days although there were many of the settlers who doubted their existence. Others were pronounced in their belief in these supernatural visitors. I do not remember hearing any of our older relatives say they had ever seen a ghost, but, according to all accounts, some of them had friends of a preceding generation who had made the contact. Even where the actual ghosts had never been seen, there were many 'queer' occurrences that indicated their presence at unusual hours. Some of the stories around the fireside were so startling that we children were afraid for weeks after we had heard them. One of the stories to which I listened with youthful fear and trembling was an account of the annual neighborhood conclave of the witches, which was an accepted fact in eight- eenth century Germany and was believed to have existed among the hills of Pennsylvania in the period of early Ger- man emigration to that colony. The tradition survived and was told for many years in the scattered families of the people who had moved westward from Pennsylvania and other German settlements. According to the story as I heard it when a lad, it was the custom of a number of witches, leaders among their kind, to assemble each year to determine the woe or well being of 430 W. A. Titus the people of the neighborhood. Their deliberations always took place at night in the soft glow of nebulous lights that seemed suspended at various points in the air. Of their actual proceedings little was known, as it was deemed highly hazardous to incur the displeasure of the witches by any attempt at spying. It was reported that they danced around a kettle in which they boiled herbs and toads; then that they sipped this brew while they deliberated on the fate of the people who had been so unfortunate as to incur their ill will. Each year they determined who should die of accident or disease during the coming twelve months, and it was popu- larly believed that the deaths in the neighborhood and the proscription list of the witches exactly coincided. No one could know in advance who the doomed persons were; so all lived in fear of giving offense. To a smaller degree it was also believed that the farmers' stock died because of witch- craft. However, in the period following the Civil war when I listened to these stories, they were treated as phenomena which had existed in the preceding century; there was no serious assertion that any of these supernatural events could he witnessed at the time when I was a child. It was thought that the increase in population and the extensive areas of cleared land had caused the witches to cease their activities. [To be continued] DOCUMENTS

LETTERS OF RICHARD EMERSON ELA Richard Emerson Ela was born at Lebanon, New Hamp- shire, May 5, 1812, the son of Benjamin and Abigail Emer- son Ela. At the age of eighteen Richard was apprenticed to a printer in Portsmouth, but became dissatisfied and in 1834 contemplated a visit to the West in the hope of establishing himself in some other line of activity. He set out for the West in April, 1835, but stopped several months in Buffalo, New York, where he secured employment in a joiner's shop and apparently became interested and adept in wood working. Proceeding to Illinois, by way of Chicago, he first looked for land in the vicinity of the Fox river, then worked in a fanning-mill shop in Plainfield, learning the details of that business and earning money to pay for land he had bought there. With some financial aid from home, he now bought several tracts of land as a speculation and in the fall of 1838 went north into Wisconsin to select lands before the sale should occur at the Milwaukee land office. His purchase was made near the newly begun village of Rochester, where he built a shop and began manufacturing fanning mills which, in a few years, he was selling by agents over an extensive region. He gradually added the manufacture of plows, wagons, and other agricultural apparatus becoming one of the important pioneer manufacturers of Wisconsin. The letters and excerpts from letters of Mr. Ela here printed shed much light upon pioneer beginnings in northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin, illustrating also the personal qualities which won success for their author.—EDITOR. 432 Documents [June

[Addressed to] : George Ela, Goffstown, N.H. [Lebanon, New Hampshire, May 4th, 1830.] . . . Ben is at Dartmouth his vacation comes about the 20th of this month & endures 2 1/2 weeks—Hadn't you better come up then? I hope you will answer in the affirmative.— Richard: (I almost forgot to tell you about Richard) is still at home contrary to his expectations a year ago, or at least contrary to his intentions: he is almost eighteen years old: he does nothing (feeding the pig and getting in a little wood excepted) but build castles in the air which are con- tinualy falling to the ground. Poor dog! I fear if many more fall they will crush his ambition and discourage him forever : he wants to be in some other business; he is still at liberty to 'go if he wants to'; but he tells the one who gives him that liberty that he had as good tie a dog and tell him S'-boy. Richard is in one sense tied! after all his liberty to 'go if he wants to' There are no apprentices wanted in this place and he is wholy unacquainted any where else and knows not where to make application, he does not wish to trouble any of his friends and it was a violation of this which induced him to write to you a year ago.—I have frequently heard him laugh at the absurdity of that measure a measure as faith- less as it Was fruitless, and he desires me to apologise to you for it by saying it was prompted by [MS illegible] and despair—If Richard would get a place he has no means to get away from home. He is surely tied; his father, only, can cut the strings off handsomely—Richard himself must JcnaiW 'em off. I have already spun this scrawl out longer than I expected when I began and must repeat the entreaty; do come home, come soon and close with the love and respects of all. Together with a large share from your brother R. E. Ela KICHAKD EMERSON ELA From a photograph lent by Mrs. Mary Ela Willard

1936] Documents 433

[Addressed to] : George Ela, Goffstown, N.H. Lebanon. August 19 1834 Dear Bro. George. I reached Concord the evening I left you after an agree- able trudge in which nothing happened worth relating as I recollect. The next day was spent pretty much in packing up my things for a move to this place. I was not able to dispose of the Blank Books to much advantage owing to their being ruled for a method of Bookkeeping that is not much in use and one of them was not ruled right for any method—this rendered them almost valueless. After barter- ing a long time, however, I was able to swap them for a couple of Books the price of which was a dollar & 1/4 but which Were not worth over a dollar each at the most. I took samples of your remaining Broad Cloths and a sample of the Petershum when I left G. with which I called on Mr Brown in hopes of being able to make a bargain with him, but he had on hand a good supply of cloths and those cloths could not have been put low enough to induce him to purchase— I was sorry for this—as I did hope that they might be got rid of in that way. [He is looking for employment but finds business poor. His cousin George wants him to enter the printing business, but he feels it entails too much moving about.] I dont know what I should have come to if I had remained with Cousin George—life was getting to be a burden—I envied my mother her grave—It did really seem to me, often, that if I could die fairly I should die gladly— a thousand circumstances were operating upon me to make me one of the most desolate and unhappy of beings—I was beginning to feel some like a man in the nightmare, as though there was a heavy burden upon me against which I might struggle in vain; I was almost gasping for existence— your proposition was a touch awakening me to other scenes— as I before said, I listened to it readily, I might say: gladly, and I repeat, let the result be what it may, I never will reproach you. Nevertheless if I had known that things were going to assume the shape they do at present wear, wisdom 434 Documents [June perhaps would have dictated that I should remain where I was. We have both gone too far to look back with vain re- grets; let us therefore push ahead—The West is our object; there is no other hope left for us; let us then arouse our minds to direct in the undertaking, and our whole might to accomplish it. The time when we are to start should be settled upon as soon as possible, and our utmost endeavours used to make all things meet at that point. We should start by the last of October. [He here discusses the madness of their going west without knowing where they expect to settle. He thinks their plans should be more definite.] Our object is to better our conditions, and we must run no hazzards. or we make them forever worse. / have labored long enough under the disadvantages of poverty—I am determined to use every honorable exertion to acquire an independence. I am willing to labour—to do any thing honorable for it; de- pendance I cannot bear any longer than I must bear it. Though hope has for long times been a stranger to me I still will hope. The greatest part of my life is still before me— I still will hope. It is very difficult I find to make up ones mind in regard to the best spot or Section of the country in which to settle at the West. A person may read Flints geography till he is blind, and then he must have an uncommonly grasping mind in order to combine all the circumstances of every place and compare them so as to make a selection. I believe it is some like choosing ones business when they start out into the world—it is very difficult to bring the mind to be satis- fied which is best, and when that is done, we are very likely to find in the end that we were mistaken—the best way is to fix upon some one [location], if it [is] no more than tolerable, and make up by dilligence and economy what is want- ing in natural advantages, instead of spending much time and anxiety in making a selection when there can be no certainty of our remaining pleased with that selection. Write to me immediately—and let me know, if possible, whether I can depend upon you for means of paying my expenses to the West; if I cannot I shall have to remain till spring, and contrive some way to raise something this winter. You will 1936] Documents 435 recollect what passed on this subject just before I left you. Write; Let us have an understanding—I had a tolerable pleasant walk from Concord—went to Andover one afternoon and came here the next day, and my baggage has arrived safe. ... [R. E. Ela] [Address not given] Buffalo N.Y. July 1835 Dear Bro. George You have doubtless ere this learnt from my friends in Lebanon that I hauled up at this place and if you have been at Lebanon which I Imagine from your letter to me just before I started you have, you have learnt my progress on my voyage and it is unnecessary to give you a minute account here. I stopped here because an apparently fair opportunity presented to earn a little money and to learn more of a business that I already understood a little of that, though by no means 'doubly armed,9 I might go forward to the far West better armed. I had learned at Albany and Schenecteday the difficulty of obtaining employment—funds were running away fast, and though fancy would lead me to hope for better things than were in store for me here, I thought it most prudent and safe to embrace the opportunity that very accidentally presented itself. Lest you may not [have] been at L. as above supposed, I will mention that I am working at the Joiners business and get sixteen dollars per mo. and found. I have been at it now near 3 months have enjoyed good health and have lost but one day, and that to carry a sick man out into the country to his family, recently. Hope again walks trembling forth—I am willing to Work & so far I find that I am able. You see that I am getting tolerable wages considering circumstances. If I continue I will ere long have greater, and if kind Providence spares to me my health and faculties I will yet be in possession of my hearts desire an honest independence, though strait and narrow may be the way that leads to it. Your kind letter which I received just as I was about to embark on 436 Documents [June my journey was truly grateful to me. It told me that there was yet an interest felt for my welfare. The few lines from sister Mary were particularly reviving; and gave me a much lighter heart with which to commence the untried, uncertain road before me. To have your company on the tour was not to be my lot but your good will and good wishes thus timely expressed was next to it. You remarked, George, in your letter, that it would 'be pleasant to you if we could settle together or near together' I need not assure you that such an event would give me the most heartfelt satis- faction. . . . You probably may expect to hear something from me that will throw light upon the subject of Western Emigration; but George the light that is in me is darkness. Since my location in this place my situation has not been favorable to gathering information; what accounts I have obtained from different witnesses have been calculated to darken the mind and undermine it, [rather] than to help it to any conclusion, as to the best parts for an emigrant to aim at. I remain of the opinion I always entertained that if a person is doing any way decently he had better not emigrate at all, but if he is run ashore It is perhaps a good plan to go to the West where chances to get wealth certainly are better than in the old States and where he can begin life anew on a reformed plan improved by past experience. But to do anything even at the West a person of small means has got to have his mind awake—his limbs and prudential faculties in exercise. 'Tis not an Eden then after all—a man has something to do besides to pluck and eat, he has got to sow and reap, plan and accomplish, and it is best that it is so; if sowing brings a better crop, or planning is attended with richer results, than elsewhere, it is enough. [R. E. Ela]

[Address not given] Plainfield1 [111.], Feb. 29 1835 [1836?] Dr Bro. [George]: I have just an opportunity to scratch a hasty line I arrived here this morning. Had a pleasant tramp back— Plainfield, a village of Will county, is eight miles northwest of Joliet. Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, editors, Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois (Chicago, 1900), 426. 1936] Documents 437 prospect is shall stay here some weeks at least. One word to you George. You have a good claim enough out there.—you best can judge whether you had better go on to it. or stay in Chicago. If you do go on I beseech of you to take up with my advise and sell your Caty dear as she may be to you and purchase another horse cheap and serviceable that can live without Oats and lay out the overplus money in provisions and tools and go on to your claim immediately go right onto the ground and Mary with you as soon as you can get the things comfortable. You want rails go at them—the oak of the forest will yield before continued blows and after persevering in the business for a while, you will find labour sweet and only regret that you had not acquired industrious habits before—Be sure to rise early and get start of the day. You will want ploughing—link in with Brown or some of them, even if you have to turn one of your horses into a yoke of Oxen learn to contrive and to economize George. Go in there. Give the grove your name. Get the young Andrus in with you in some way that will save your own board. Let 'Yankee Fixings' go to the Deuce at some convenient Season when you may perhaps raise some provisions by them— Make a claim as I told you of More Timber and some prairie down this side—consider it your right and talk accordingly if any one qu[e]ries. and sell this last claim for as much as you can. If you cant do better you can give it away to some good fellow and thereby perhaps make a friend. These are the words of truth and soberness—consider them and dont be headstrong against your own convictions. In haste Truly your Bro. Richard E

[Abigail Ela, Lebanon, N.H.] Plainfield I1L March 2, 1836. Dear Sister After long and impatient waiting I have at length received a letter from my friends and I must confess Abba that I am amply repaid for the uneasiness I have suffered 438 Documents [June by the length and interesting character of your Epistle. I will not now reproach my friends with neglect though it did begin to seem almost as though I was forgotten. I had expected that the knowledge of my arrival in this country, communicated by the Chicago paper would bring me an answer to the letter mailed at Detroit and did feel bitter disappointment when the Teamster who put my last into Chi- cago P.O. brought no letter—no paper back to me, but you allude to the matter in so clever a manner that I must for- give you. And besides as before hinted, your letter is such a good 'big large' one, as the Indian would say, it has repaid for all. It appears that my last conveyed an anxious feeling to my friends I was at that time to be sure laboring under disappointment and enduring many hardships to which I was unused, but I thought I had suppressed any expression of unhappiness more than generally mingles with the feelings of frail man I did not mean to send a pang to [a] single friend. I did not wish to excite their sympathy and com- misseration and knowing that a full account of my situation at that time would have a tendency to do so I thought I had kept it back. I might, however, have used to[o] plain hints on the subject. Sleeping on the ground, or on a hard floor as I mostly did, eating raw pork as I did sometimes— chopping down trees, rolling up logs, swinging the scythe and pitching hay and some other things were rather against my bringing up you know, but if I derived no benefit from them, I cannot now perceive that they have done me any injury and so comfortably have I found the past winter that the hardships of the fall season were almost forgotten when your kind letter was received. You will perceive by the date of this that I have again altered my position on the chequer- board, but I have not yet got into the 'king row' to move as I please, but am still under the control of circumstances beyond my control and have to move as I can. I came to this place about the last of Nov. from the Kishwakee [Kish- waukee] River.2 The unusually early setting in of cold

2 Kishwaukee river rises in McHenry county, runs west through Boone, and enters Rock river in Winnebago county, eight miles below Rockford. It is seventy-five miles long. Ibid., 319. 1936] Documents 439 weather in this country prevented their going on with the mills at Kiswakee as intended and I made a safe retreat from that wilderness country to this place and had the good luck to find employment here and tolerable wages at the Fanning Mill business, have had as comfortable a shop to work in as the country affords, as good board and lodgings as need be all winter. Did I express or hint unhappiness arising from outward circumstances in my last? I now can tell you that so far as outward circumstances are concerned there has been nothing to prevent my enjoying the past winter, and if I have been unhappy it is an inward fault and not a fault of the circumstances by which I have been surrounded and indeed Abba when I look back to the day I left N.H. and consider how I have fared in my wandering taking every adverse circumstance into the account, I feel that to com- plain would be deep ingratitude to Heaven. I found employment when I had almost began to despair. I have been borne safely over the dangerous waters that intervene between me and childhoods home and have found employment in this new land, and from the day I started have been blessed with health through cold and hot, wet and dry, and through the pestilences that walk in darkness. To be sure I have realized none of those golden dreams that usually attend the emigrant to this land and which too oft are doomed to disappointment, I have found no mine of precious metal met no extraordinary facilities for amassing wealth and gaining honors, but I am meeting encouragements to labor and am tasting daily of Industrys growing sweetness. The vagaries and vapors of former days are departing, and I begin to see that contentment is not to be found in wealth and honors. . . . [R. E. Ela] [Addressed to] : Col. J. Sayres Kishwakee River Illinois. Plainfield April 9 1836 Dr Sir . . . How come on the claims ? It does seem to me that the settlers in your vicinity are beside themselves if they 440 Documents [June have not—or do not enter into some Articles of Agreement for their own security. There ought at least to be some general understanding among them. Settlers will be pouring in the coming season, and the inhabitants ought to be united in some regulations. United they will stand. Divided, they will fall a prey to newcomers, if not to each other. If any think that by standing on their own hook they shall be able to hold more land than just and equitable regulations would allow them they will find that they miss it. They are actuated by an avarice the very tendency of which is to destroy its own object They ought to know that if they would expect reasonable treatment from others, they must be reasonable themselves—that if they would have their own wishes respected by others they must have some respect to the wants of others, and not be not be [sic] too greedy. As for my own, my mill-pond claim, I can hardly expect it will be preserved especially the timber, unless it is by the influence of Col. Sayres. All I can say, is that I should be most sincerely glad if it could be saved for me. I want it for a house. The first time I ever slept on the hard bosom of my mother earth was at Kishwalkee, and I think now that when the toils of this life are passed and my bones are passed to their final rest in her bosom, I would be willing it should be there. I will not promise certain—because I know not [what] may happen, but I think if I can have my claim (I will come out in the fall by Nov.) and set up the fanning mill-business, and should endeavor to extend to some other, labor saving machines in Agriculture. If you sir can assure me that there is a probability that my claim will remain secure, I will in course of the summer send you a bill of such Timber as I shall want. How would you grant a privilege at water power for machinery as mentioned in my last? I should like to know, and if I would put up a framed shop would you give me a half acre or so in a good situation near you? And could I have credit for Lumber, till I had sold some mills and received pay for them? Sir, I am poor, and if I cannot have some favors in this way I must turn my eyes some other way. I am now perhaps $100 above par. If I have my health through this season I will have near $200 added. I have had 1936] Documents 441 a proposition from my father to send me on $300—he may alter his mind possibly—but if he should not, after purchasing what tools I should need I should want to save the remainder in come-atable circumstances [so as to be available] against Land Sale. I am thus frank because I want everything understood and plain as A.B.C. Heaven is prosper- ing me, though in a humble way. Brought up to no particular business I started from New Hampshire a year ago in debt. The expenses of journeying &c have been defrayed and I now reckon myself worth the humble sum of $100. This, if I have my health, shall be a foundation on which I will build an independence. If wealth can be acquired by unremitted industry, I am determined to be rich, I seek not riches as a source of happiness—they are but little better than chips and dust, but I pursue them almost out of spite. I have seen what foolish importance is attached to them by the world generally, and I have thought in my heart, out of spite I will be rich. But in accomplishing this object—I would desire to serve the country—to serve mankind. . . . Respectfully &c R. E. Ela P.S. April 30, 1836.3 Dr Sir [Sayres] . . . I want very much to hold that claim unhandsome as it is in every way I have got my mind set upon it, and I want it, and I do beseech your influence and that of Mr. Blair Brink Glenson Van Slyke and the whole of you. All that will be necessary will be for you all to talk and act as though that is my claim—call it mine to others in undoubted terms. If the claim can be preserved I will come out by some time in Nov. and, with the smiles of heaven attending, Kish- wakee shall be my home, and so far as unremitting industry and good wishes toward every son and daughter of Adam are concerned, together with a desire to serve the country as well as myself, I will make a good citizen. I want my own rights and want everyone else to have theirs. This is all I want. I 3 This may be a part of the preceding letter. 442 Documents [June

feel that I have a right to that dear mill-pond claim at Kish- wakee and hope that the same sentiment is entertained by my friends there. If it is I can feel assured that my claim is safe If it is in danger and anything can be done to save it let that be done and I will foot all reasonable expense, and be grateful into the bargain I send herewith a paper which I desire you to show to any one who may jump my claim or manifest an intention so to do. I am almost sorry that I have engaged here as I have, but I must fulfil. R. Emerson Ela . . . The undersigned has made no improvement on said claim but he probably would have done so at the time of his being in the vicinity had it been a possible thing to have procured its being done. He has only marked out the claim as distinctly as possible; he has neither ploughed a few fur* rows nor laid up a few rails crosswise thereupon. But he has put up an honest wish to have and hold said parcel of land—and he trusts that such a desire will be respected more than a few insincere rails or dishonest furrows Rails and furrows can at best be but a manifestation of the intention and wishes of the claimant and the undersigned hopes that an equally strong manifestation may be discovered in the marks he has put around his claim and in this writing. Signed at Plainfield Will Co. 111. In presence of the 30th day of April 1836 Miles Roys R. Emerson Ela [Addressed to] : Mr. Benjamin Ela Lebanon New Hampshire Plainfield Illinois May 26, 1836 Dear Father The letter from Lebanon containing the checks has been this day received, and for my part I have to thank you for the bestowment made upon me. Whether it shall advantage me or not I receive it as a token of your good will, and you may be assured it is met by a corresponding gratitude. I know 1936] Documents 443 not yet what use I shall make of the money but trust that I shall be able to use it to advantage. I have plans in my head which as they may not work I will not mention fully. I shall endeavor to find a quarter section of land somewhere to enter, and if I succeed shall make this use of the money, but on the portion of country that came into market last season it is almost impossible to find any that is not taken up—so they tell me. Settlers come into this northern part of Illinois with the expectation of finding plenty of surveyed land that they can get hold of but it is not so. On the whole survey, I dont think it possible to get hold of Timber and a rare chance if prairie. Most of the people that come in now go on to unsurveyed lands and make claims, a mode which I believe I have attempted to explain in former letters. Fox River which empties into the Illinois at Ottawa Rock River and its tributaries and the Wisconsin Territory are settling in no other way than this. So much confidence is felt in the system that the claims are bought and sold like deeded property, and as high as 2, 3, and 4 Thousand Dol- lars are paid for them sometimes. When I look at the numbers that are interested in this system and the money invested I feel that it must work, and would if I had thousands invest it all in claims, for claims of from a quarter to a half section of prairies and 70 or 80 acres of Timber can be bought enough of them at from $400 to a $1000, that this moment if one had a deed of the land it is worth from 10 to 30 dollars per acre as I view. But when I consider how uncertain it is what policy congress may pursue, in regard to the public lands, my confidence in those claims waivers, and I should hardly be willing to invest a dollar in a claim. The great revenue accruing from the public lands of late is at- tracting notice toward them and no knowing what freak Congress may take, but on the whole I think the same policy as ever will be pursued. This settlement is on surveyed lands but boundary of the survey runs but little northwest of here. I have made a claim on the prairie about 3/4 of a mile from what is called the town here. I claimed a quarter Section, and in company with Mr. Roger one of the men for whom I work bought the claim on another quarter— 444 Documents [June we paid $90—This claim I prize much, it is handsome and well situated If I am able to find land not taken up to enter I shall do it because I think it an object to get hold of as much land as possible, and if I make this use of the money you have sent me I shall want some Timber in this grove to go with my claim of prairie, in which case I might be glad to get a hundred or two dollars or more, and may ere long trouble you with such a request. The Timber is all on sold land and cannot now be had short of about $20 per acre I should want at least 10 acres, money invested there would not be lost if I should lose my claim I may make this use of the money sent. This is quite a pleasant place and there will ere long be something of a village here there are some buildings going up this season and would be more but for the want of lumber. This is about 8 miles from the county seat and will be not more than 5 or 6 from the canal—they talk of a college near here—and there is an unoccupied mill seat near, all which, it being half way between Chicago and Ottawa may make quite a little place of it one day but there is no calculating in this country— every one has a town almost. This place already has made some noise abroad, but it has not been an uncommon thing for travellers to stop at houses, right in 'town' and enquire how far it is to Plainfield! I have engaged at the Fanning Mill business for the season at $23 per month. Wages are higher in the country but this was a good place and sure pay. Whatever fancies in regard to speculations may dance through my mind I plan my main reliance on constant labor. Speculations there no doubt are but it requires money money, and money perhaps to stake Though I am firm in the belief that all the dry prairie that can be got in this country at the Gov't price, let it be ever so far from timber, it is a speculation, and in regard to such a speculation I may think proper in course of the present season to write to you particularly. There is one thing I wish to enquire of you Father; How small a per-centage for money would be an inducement to send it here to loan on undoubted personal or mortgage security? and is it probable that loans could be effected at all within your acquaintance, for this country? I make these 1936] Documents 445 enquiries because instances have occurred—where I thought money could be let for a couple of years, 1 or 2 thousand in a lump at a high rate percent on undoubted security and would moreover have been promoting the interests of the country. The prospects of this North Western Country, it becomes not me to speak of, short sighted as I am, but I believe I do not begin to dream of its destiny. If a soil of un- equalled richness is to make a great country then this must become so I do not imagine that the season is much more forward here than some parts of New Hampshire—It is not the extreme mildness of the climate but the extreme use of cultivation that is to make this country. All kinds of machines in agriculture can be introduced here. They will be able even to cut grain and grass by machinery—no doubt of it. To many new comers from the east the first impressions of this country are unfavorable. There appears to be a great lack—but a residence of a year or so is apt to work a great revolution in their ways of thinking. . . . Affectionately your son Richard E. Ela

[Addressed to] : Mr. Benjamin Ela Lebanon New Hampshire Plainfield Will Co. Illinois July 1836 Dear Father Immediately on the receipt of the letter containing the checks, I wrote a letter to you informing you of the fact, which I suppose was duly received. It was my intention then and I presumed would be your desire to have me write after some disposition should be made of the money, and I now take my pen to inform you what I have done with it. About a weekj after writing last I learnt of some unentered lands south westerly of here, and put off to see them. I found plenty of good prairie unentered—some of the handsomest land that ever lay out doors—mostly 3 or 4 miles from timber and without water. The most beautiful was 4 miles from Timber-laid high and not a sign of water on it, but 446 Documents [June from its extreme beauty would have been a speculation at the Gov't price. Finally there was an eighty and forty on the same quarter section—good land—with a small living stream running through the forty, that I concluded upon and that I have entered. It lays within a mile of Holder- mans Grove—about 6 miles from the Illinois River—17 from Ottawa and very near the stage road from Chicago to Ottawa, and is no doubt as good an investment—as safe and as sure as I could have made of the money. I should be glad of forty more such claims and the means of improving them. I wanted to have entered a whole quarter as the money would have done and as I could have done of the handsome prairie farthest from timber but was finally decided in favor of the living water &c of that I have entered. Most of that I had to choose between at the time has since been taken up and will be worth 5 or 10 dollars per acre in less than as many years. The remainder of my check ($50) is now at interest. ... I could not dispose of the checks at any advantage to any of the merchants, but got the money on them at the Bank at par. I mentioned in my last that I had made a claim of prairie near this place and in company with my employer Mr. Royce [Roger?] had purchased half the claim on a quarter joining I have had some trouble and expense with them. One man has pretended that he had claimed the boughten one previous to the man of whom we purchased we left the matter out to referees and they decided in our favor: and the quarter that I claimed origin- ally myself has been 'jumped' by a person with whom reason- ing is of no avail. Public opinion is wholly against him and, were I disposed, no doubt he could be 'rigged out' with a suit of Tar and Feathers, but I hardly hold to such things. If he persists in his course, I may have to be at considerable expense in maintaining my rights and though I feel that contention is not my 'built' I desire fortitude and perseverance to maintain my just rights. The claim is valuable and I want it—had I a deed of it I would not take ten dollars an acre for it—it is worth that this moment, and I think I shall not spare expense to maintain it. I hate broils and money comes like hearts blood—I have none to misspend—but the 1936] Documents 447 claim, is an object. What I shall do or how it will come out I cannot tell. I have lately taken a tramp out into the Kish- wakee country and renewed my claim there that I made last fall. That too will be valuable if I am ever able to get it, and is worth exertion any how. Two men had jumped my Timber claim, and I made a compromise with them—re- linquished one undivided half and that will give equal protection to the whole Timber and they are to put up the body of a log house on the other part of my claim which will give that some protection and further they are to mark out a claim of prairie for me two or three miles distant. I dont know that I shall be able to hold all my claims, but am willing to spend a little something in the experiment. I have been thus particular in speaking of the claims that you may have some idea of how business operates here. Some troubles you will perceive—a good deal of darkness and doubt. This is a fine country—but there are privations and difficulties enough of them. If I should succeed in holding my claims, I too might need money when the land comes into market and might be glad of an accommodation from some of my friends at the east. If I should an application will be made with diffidence and only so far as I can see my way clear. I spoke about buying timber, in my last, to go with my prairie claim. I went and looked at some Timber and talked with the man about purchasing—but the difficulties about the claim arose immediately and are not yet settled and I have made up my mind to hold on a while about buying Timber— I hardly think it will rise much within one year but it may. Land has risen greatly in the country since last fall. There have been considerable chances for speculations if one had had the means. To speculate much requires capital—'small boats' had better 'keep near the shore.' A [per] son sees a great many [MS torn] in this country that he would like to do. Ones desires are greatly called forth in view of the wants of the country. The country is but just commenced and is in need of almost every improvement yet. The speculation mania is one great injury to the country and retards its improvement. The Farmer neglects his other concerns in pursuit of speculations. There are mechanics enough in the 448 Documents [June country, but they generally have turned their attention] to landholding and speculations. Their attention is drawn toward s [pec]illations whether they can make any thing or not It is hard for many to confine their desires to the moderate earnings of honest labor when they are continually hearing of these golden speculations. Foreign speculators too are blood-suckers to the country nay, more like the savage who thirsteth for the hearts blood and careth not though he plunges the knife to the very vitals. If speculations are to be made they ought to be made by actual settlers in the country. There is need enough of improvements here—need of resources, and they ought not to be drained away by the foreign speculator. Most of the people that settle here are men of moderate means, and for that reason improvements are slow. But it will one day be a great country—a fine country—the garden of the world. To a New Englander there may be something drear and desolate in these wide spread prairies, and the scarcity of Timber may strike him as a defect that will forever retard the advancement of the country; but a residence of a year or so and conversation with those experienced in the country will do away [with] such objections in a great measure. For my part—this is my country—If I cannot live here I cannot live anywhere and if I can live here, I now firmly intend that my days shall be spent in this country. New England with her mountains and Lakes—her hill and dale—and rapid coursing rills and rivers—and all her varied charms, yet stands foremost in my admiration and affections. But I had outlived hope in New England, and when I left there was not a single peg for me to hang a hope upon. Here, though I may not make out any thing splendid, I do believe I can get a living if blessed with health and I had quite despaired of this in New Hamp- shire—I am as pleasantly situated at present as the country will admit—have a pleasant place to work and tolerable wages considering my experience in the business. I sometimes think perhaps it would be my best way to confine myself strictly to work and depend entirely on the moderate but sure earnings of labor. These claims that I now pos- sess—I may never get them. They may cost me expense and 1936] Documents 449

trouble, and after all I lose them from some freak of Con- gress or some other way; but it wont do to talk so in this country—one must feel assured and confident, and in fact if I can make improvements along so as to keep my claims sound in the view of the settlers, I feel that I may be assured—for it does appear to me that the settlers, will have their lands if it is by force of arms.—They ought to have them They are theirs in justice, and I think they will have them at all events. But I am afraid that there is a feeling galining ground in Congress prejudiced to ^their interests—some of the 'big bugs' there talk somewhat scorn- fully of the 'squatters.' There has been a great deal of Immigration this season— the country on the survey is not so much affected by it as most of the land is taken up. The Rock River country is the rage now and receives the greatest share probably. The Wisconsin gets a great portion this season. I am not sure but that would be a country more congenial to a New Eng- lander, and is agoing to be a country of more enterprise I saw R Hyde and Cross at Chicago and believe they are about there now. They are on a speculation I suppose—I know nothing how they make it. There have been some alarms about Indian difficulties but they are not generally much heeded here—If there should be war duty might impel me to go fighting, but my friends need not give themselves any anxiety on that account. I should be greatly gratified father, to receive a full letter from you. I stand in need of advice, and would receive any you might be pleased to give most gratefully I am greatly obliged to the Dr for his epistle. A young man has been here who had two letters for me in his trunk which he left somewhere on the road—one from Sister A and one from Friend Flanders at Concord. I am Anxious to get hold of them. My best Love to all & accept for yourself the best wishes for your health and happiness from your son Richard I hope for a letter from some of you immediately on the receipt of this. It is quite uncertain whether I ever get the 450 Documents [June letter from Abba I am anxious to hear from N Hamp- shire. If all the newspapers are not wanted for putting up Luncheon they would be valuable to me— Richard E. Ela.

Plainiield Illinois Sept. 4, 1838. Dear Father— ... I must suppose you are glad to hear from me and from the country. My health has been good since I wrote in the spring and I yet remain in the same place as then, though in somewhat different circumstances. I was then working on a years engagement. Mr. Roger concluded along in June not to prosecute his business in the manner intended when I hired to him so we closed the engagement by mutual consent. I am now working in his shop for a time, having contrived to get together material for some twenty Fanning Mills which I am now putting up and selling calculating to close* the job pretty much in 5 or 6 weeks. It is uncertain what course I shall then take. I mentioned I think in my last to you that I had sold the prairie claim that I had near this place for a piece of deeded land and the probability of a sale of said deeded land and I have since sold that land for $550 payable along in the course of four years—6 per cent int. secured by mortgage. I still hold the land I have entered at the Land Office it is well situated I think but does not suit me for a location for myself partly and hardly think I shall ever use it in that way. I do not feel so enthusiastic about becoming a farmer as I sometimes have felt since I came to this country. I came into this country unskilled in any business thinking that farming could be done by any one without experience and almost without capital. I looked at the pleasure of possessing fine well farmed fields and nice buildings and thought with delight of the waving grain, the lowing cattle, herds of swine, Turkeys and hens, Ducks & Geese, raising silk worms, and making Beet sugar, &c &c, but did not know what labor and patience Were necessary in order to [do] these things and the dis- appointments to which this business like every thing else beneath the sun is liable, and the labor expense and slow 1936] Documents 451 degrees by which these things are to be attained. I am getting too to be partly a mechanic and am fond of working wood quite so that I am much in danger of not attempting to realize my dreams of hedges and ditches and sod fences and in danger of becoming a 'hewer of wood/ The probability is that I shall seek some place this fall better suited to my no- tions for future life than this portion of the country. I have considerable of a fair opinion of the country in the south part of Wisconsin Territory and West of Milwaukee it is well spoken of by many of my acquaintance and I think I shall take a tramp when my hurry is over into that region. There is a large quantity of land coming to market there the 17th of Nov.4 There is also Land between here and the Indiana line and also between Rock River and the Missis- sippi considerable bodies coming into market at the same time. There will undoubtedly be good opportunities to purchase and to enter in the course of the winter and spring on these Tenets [tracts?] Sept 8th the preceeding hasty scrawl was commenced as a kind of trial of the machinery after long disuse, and I think shows some imperfections in said machinery if not derange- ment. I had concluded not to send it, but for want of time shall add a supplement and send it along. I must necessarily be brief in the remainder but what I have to add is to me at least important. I was speaking of the sale of Land in Wisconsin. Never having been fairly settled in my mind I am desirous if possible of becoming so. I had had that portion of country much in my mind before the advertisement of Lands there for sale I know not that I shall like it but from accounts think well of the country and of its local advantages, and am pretty much determined to go and see it once if in my power, to purchase a quarter section if I can find one on which I think I should be suited to live myself In case I should want to live on a farm. I calculate that so long as I am able to do as well at mechanical business as I am now able to do I shall follow it but whichever I am I want a farm in tow. I cannot give you my whole mind only *The sale was postponed to February and March, 1839, at the Milwaukee land office. 452 Documents [June glimpses which may appear unsatisfactory—but if I had room could reason it all out to you I think—I have not much means available—When I have finished the job of mills on hand and sold them I calculate to have between five and 600 Dollars fanning mill notes Due from 4 to 6 mo. and a year I have now in other notes about 400, about 200 due or soon becoming so, and the remainder due in January all good but may fail of coming. I have a bond of $550, as mentioned before. I owe in 5 or 6 mo. $120 about This will show that I am probably sound—and now I will put the question Can you lend me from 200 to 400 dollars? I never meant to apply to you for such a favor. Your favors already voluntarily bestowed have been of much benefit to me, and I never meant to importune you for further, but circumstances incline me to it of late. If you can conveniently do me this favor a check or draft (I have hardly learnt to distinguish between them) sent at once on the receipt of this (On Boston or New York) will be gratefully received and my note to you or your order at any interest you may prescribe under 10 per cent from date of draft—on any time more than one year will be sent back immediately to you upon my sacred honor. You will please write without any more delay than proper considera- tion requires and then send the draft if you conclude so to do, as soon as possible after all I might not use the money in the above way but am extremely desirous to be prepared should I want so to do. It shall either be returned or not misused. If you should conclude to send it please drop line just signifying it to me at Milwaukee W.T. Another to me at Rochester P.O. W.T. and one at Plainfield as cir- cumstantial as you please and let the draft immediately follow to Plainfield. You may conjecture the reasons;—I have not room to explain Have heard nothing from Geo since spring & intend vis- iting him ere long. It is somewhat sickly here this season and crops have suffered much from Drought it is very dry My love to aU Your Son Richard E Ela 1936] Documents 453

[Addressed to] : Mr. George Ela Deer Grove Illinois [Undated letter] Bro. George Waiting at Mr. Luce for him to go down to the river I improve the opportunity to drop a line to you. I have started to go up into Wisconsin to take a look. And shall endeavor to call on you when I return but may not—I may be gone 4 or 5 weeks I have had a line from Lebanon since you left—folks were well. [R. E. Ela] [To be continued] EDITORIAL COMMENT

THE WISCONSIN PHALANX

HE word 'phalanx' will today have little meaning to those T who have encountered it only in Greek military history. To understand its meaning as used in this paper, it is necessary to imagine ourselves back in a situation almost a century gone, when it became popularized under the head of social science. The period in which it had its widest influence was almost as well marked in the history of the nineteenth century as the present era is like to be to future students of the twentieth century. Envisage the whole western world during the space of about twelve years, from 1837 to 1849, striving to regain some kind of political, social, and economic order following an all but universal upheaval. The recon- struction came latest in continental Europe, following the not too successful revolutions of 1848. In England it came earlier and also in America. Many differences could be pointed out between situ- ations existing during that interval in the different countries, but these were offset by striking similarities among all, and the most uniform condition was the precarious status of laboring people, both proletarians and peasants. In Eng- land the former were the revolutionary class because the panic had demoralized foreign trade, this had closed the fac- tories, and their workers were thrown out of employment. They were now at the mercy of the poor laws, which at that time were harsh enough. There ensued a tremendous social agitation in which, as usual, the suffering masses often worked at cross purposes- Unionization of labor was one movement, Owenism—the Editorial Comment 455 theory of a benevolent employing class—another; but out- right communism, emigration, prison reform, poor law reform, women's rights, temperance—even vegetarianism— all found advocates and every plausible preacher of however bizarre a doctrine found adherents. The largest measure of unity among the distressed laborers and their friends in the other classes was in agitating the so-called chartist movement which had for its object political Jreforms under six points: manhood suffrage, the ballot, an annual parliament, abolition of property qualifica- tions for members of parliament, payment of parliamentary members, and equal electoral districts. This looks tame to us pow but to the British rulers then it was wild-eyed radicalism. The chartists expected, if those reforms were once secured, to gain needed remedial legislation through parliament, though no actual program of new laws had been agreed upon. Their hopes were dashed when the parliament spurned their several petitions, the second or Great petition of 1842 having upon it, so it was said, 3,000,000 names. It was in the midst of these social convulsions that Car- lyle wrote, at a white heat, his Past and Present, published in 1843. He had published Chariism earlier, a vigorous, direct attack upon abuses, but it fell upon deaf ears. Now he proposed an object lesson in the way of a contrast between life and labor on a medieval manor and that of England in his own day. The plan was original and produced a striking book. Emerson wrote: 'It hits all men and, as the common people say, "it comes bounce down into every pew." ' Carlyle was not a stranger to the American audience. It is probable that ideas of English life among Americans at that time were shaped by him as much as by any other English writer, and while few Americans endorsed his views on democracy, none could disparage the thoroughness with which he anatomized 456 Editorial Comment [June

English society, or anathematized so-called statesmen and their purblind advisers. To Carlyle, a government dominated by the principle of laissez faire was just no government at all. In one respect only, he held, had rulers been wholly successful, namely: in organizing an army for defense out of all sorts of unpromis- ing human material. Given a will to do, they might just as successfully organize an army against 'starvation, chaos, and stupidity.' Administrative functions must inevitably be extended to include a hundred lines of action from which the cowardly English government recoiled. It must provide sanitation, work for the workless, and education for the ig- norant; promote emigration to newer lands, establish better working conditions and shorter hours of labor. It might properly stimulate the teaching of scientific agriculture,1 the inspection of mines, and organize profit-sharing indus- tries. If democracy could do what was required, well and good. If not, it must give way to some more effective type of ruler and, being Carlyle, he suggested 'the wisest and strongest man.' Past and Present can be read with profit today. No doubt Carlyle idealizes Abbot Samson, the twelfth century ruler of an ecclesiastical manor; and he assuredly allowed ample scope to authority as a condition of successful administration. But Abbot Samson's serfs were safe, contented, and infer- entially happy, while England's poor, in his own day, had two millions 'sitting in poor-law Bastilles,' a sight which made Carlyle heartsick. And how he flayed the devotees of the 'dismal science' of economics who had nothing better to offer in the way of advice than Bicardo's and Malthus' 'iron law of wages' that condemned the laboring millions to toil

1 Strangely enough, that was begun in this very year, 1843, by the establish- ment of the Rothamsted agricultural experimental station at Harpenden. But the government had nothing to do with the movement. 1936] Editorial Comment 457 forever for a mere subsistence wage. He calculated, as he wrote his mother, the book might 'awaken here and there a slumbering blockhead to rub his eyes and consider what he is about in God's creation.' And so it did, not in England only, but also in America.2 The American situation, so far as factory workers were concerned, was similar to the English. Thousands were un- employed and they could not all go west to become farmers on new lands although many saved themselves by that obvi- ous means. So there were bread lines in our industrial cities, as there were in Paris, London, and Manchester. And here, as in England, strikes and unionization of labor marked the dawning of economic recovery. But the general distress aroused the friends of suffering humanity to reflect on permanent reforms, especially such as might be brought about under the existing political and constitutional system. Communism and other extreme social remedies found practically no encouragement among Americans of any class. But new ideas of every description were in the air and transcendentalists were loudly insisting upon the perfectibil- ity of human nature. Anti-slavery, land limitation, home- stead exemption, temperance, Grahamism, and women's rights all commanded vocal protagonists while a multiplicity of religious movements shared with them the interest and emotional excitement of the masses. Mormonism, Millerism, and Campbellism were developed wholly on American soil, while a colorful congeries of European sects sought refuge in this country as promising the most complete freedom of religious belief and practice. One plan of cooperative labor and living had grown out of the transcendental movement, and the famous Brook

2 Whoever wishes to gain a view of the political activities of English laboring people during that period cannot do better than to read Graham Wallas, The Life of Francis Place (New York, 1898). 458 Editorial Comment [June

Farm, at West Roxbury, near Boston, was its embodiment. In one of its aspects Brook Farm was essentially a boy's school conducted under farm conditions, with wholesome labor in field and meadow alternating with class exercises. That idea was not new though school instruction was conducted on the most approved lines, making the Brook Farm school one of the best institutions in America for training boys. Among its pupils was the later famous George Wil- liam Curtis. What was new in the Brook Farm experiment was the attempt at 'unitary living' and the cooperative ownership and management of farm and dairy. The common kitchen and dining room, library, music room, lecture hall; and the harmonious occupancy by families and single persons of the suites and private rooms of a couple of large farm houses, are of course suggestive of college dormitory life, though with a new emphasis upon the family. The entire community gladly acknowledged the leadership of Rev. George Ripley, founder and headmaster. Established in 1841, Brook Farm, by reason of the pat- ronage of so many distinguished literary personages, including Emerson, the three Channings, Theodore Parker, Haw- thorne, Margaret Fuller, Charles A. Dana, and John S. Dwight, promptly became the symbol of a higher type of community living. Its leaders published the Dial and con- tributed to journals of wider circulation. And then, in 1843, they transformed Brook Farm into a Phalanx and started the weekly Harbinger. The phalanx idea came from France. It was the brain child of the philosopher Charles Fourier, and was brought to America by Albert Brisbane, a young New York savant who studied in Europe and become one of Fourier's disciples. He translated those treatises of his master which elucidated the principles of 'attractive' labor and living, unfortunately 1936] Editorial Comment 459 retaining much of Fourier's non-essential or merely fanciful speculation as well. Brisbane was an enthusiast, and while not a practical reformer, he had the luck to convert Horace Greeley to a sim- plified form of Fourier's 'social science.' Greeley was perhaps the most dynamic social force in America at that time, with an influence through his New York Tribune which reached everywhere in the northern states and territories. Although in, some respects a hard-headed Yankee, of individualistic rural derivation, Greeley was also a large-hearted humanitarian with ready sympathies for the suffering and a passion for social improvement. Accordingly, he opened the Tribune's columns to Bris- bane and during several years long articles appeared almost weekly from his pen. But the great editor himself, on occasion, participated in the discussion, particularly by way of defending the policy of the Tribune as a purveyor of the associationist doctrines. Being the high priest of the Whig party, whose members were by no means all reformers like himself, many readers protested against the publication of the Brisbane articles. Some prominent {newspapers also launched a vigorous attack upon the Tribune's editor and among these was the Observer, Presbyterian religious weekly. In his reply to these critics, Greeley reveals something of the emotional drive that gave Fourierism its vogue and resulted in the actual launching of more than forty experimental phalanxes in the space of three or four years. 'It must by this time be evident to all,' he says, cthat new instru- mentalities, new ideas, are essential to the realization of that equal right to life, liberty, and happiness proclaimed in our declaration of independence and aspired to by the benevolent all over the world. Still, the dark dens of ignorance and the foul haunts of sin cluster in the shadow of our moss covered 460 Editorial Comment [June churches; still crime and pauperism are advancing in this favored land of light and liberty; still millions toil for the most meagre subsistence constantly haunted by the fear that the opportunity to toil will be withdrawn and all means of earning a livelihood denied them; still we see that radical injustice and strong temptations to crime are interwoven in the whole framework of society. Men who say you love God and your neighbor: stay not to differ with us, but grap- ple with this mountain of abuses resolving that it shall be destroyed.53 Charles Fourier, by a most meticulous, if fantastic, math- ematical process had computed the true theoretical phalanx at 1,620 persons so balanced and proportioned among the several industrial, intellectual, and temperamental types as to constitute an ideal community. He hoped that, once started, such perfect social groups might spread so as to cover every civilized state. It is not recorded that he revealed what should be done with the human elements that could not be fitted into any phalanx. Perhaps, they would be left to perish as they might. The material basis, he thought, would require a domain embracing let us say, the equivalent of a congressional township. It must have fields, meadows, woods, and be provided with a phalanstery adequate to house all the people not only comfortably but elegantly. There would be common functions in kitchen, dining hall, lecture room, school. The domain would be provided with livestock and machinery; with mills, shops, and stores—in short all that could possibly be needed in a group Which farmed, manufactured, bought and sold on a cooperative basis. The requisite capital of the joint stock company would amount to several hundred thousand dollars.

3 Harbinger, August 8, 1846. 1936] Editorial Comment 461

Brisbane, Greeley, and their New York associates tried to establish such a perfect cooperative at Red Bank, New Jersey, some thirty miles from the city. They called it the North American Phalanx,4 and they actually raised a good many thousands for it, but without notable success. Mean- time other feeble attempts were making in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, among them being the one in territorial Wisconsin which is the subject of this article.5 Southport, the present Kenosha, near the Illinois line on Lake Michigan, was in 1843 a village of about eight years standing. Its people, who were mostly Yankees, were generally readers of the Tribune and some of them were thorough-paced social reformers. That is true particularly of two local leaders, C. Latham Sholes, editor of the South- port Telegraph who later won fame as inventor of the typewriter, and Michael Frank, another New Yorker who was at times a partner of Sholes in the newspaper venture. Sholes and Frank were 'barnburner' Democrats, to whom Greeley's Whig principles were anathema; yet they rolled his social philosophy like a sweet morsel on their tongues. The Tele- graph, in a word, became an active propagator of the associationist doctrines. Its editor read not alone the Tribune, but also the writings of Parke Godwin, Bryant's son-in-law, who was co-editor of the New York Evening Post, and the editorials of the Harbinger. Like other Yankee villages of the West, Southport had its young men's club called the Franklin Lyceum, which met one evening a week throughout the winter. Some of its activities are noted in the Telegraph, but we are fortunate

4 It is still known as 'Phalanx' and is the birthplace of the popular com- mentator Alexander Woollcott. 5 The man who knows most about the Wisconsin Phalanx through familiarity with all sources relating to it is Hon. Samuel M. Pedrick of Ripon, to whom I am much indebted. 462 Editorial Comment [June in having Michael Frank's diary where are recorded the debate subjects week by week, except when he was absent from the towfr attending the sessions of the legislature or for other reasons.6 It is not believed that he missed a meeting otherwise. Beginning with November, 1843, the debates of the Franklin Lyceum centered largely in the subject of the Fourierite system. On November 21 Frank notes: 'Debate in the evening at the Hall. Question, is the system of Four- ier calculated to mitigate the evils of Society? Decided in the affirmative. . . . Full house.' The following Tuesday the discussion was continued, again before a full house. At that point the diarist had to leave for a legislative session, and when he returns in March, 1844, he finds a Fourierite organization well under way. They were, in fact, ready to adopt a constitution which Frank, as chairman of a committee of three, reported at a meeting held in the schoolhouse on March 6. One week later he again 'attended the Fourier meeting at the schoolhouse—crowded house. Much enthusiasm on the subject,' as there was also on March 18 when Frank himself delivered an address. From his diary we learn also that a meeting for the election of officers was held March 23, and that the directors of the Phalanx met to adopt by-laws on the twenty-fifth. A committee sent out to select land for a domain reported April 15, whereupon Mr. Sholes was sent to Green Bay to enter their selections at the United States land office. And on May 20 he notes that the first company had started for the domain. The original constitution of the Wisconsin Phalanx is prefaced with a preamble containing several familiar phrases that Mr. Frank evidently used with no consciousness of plagiarism, because they were recognized public literary

8 Michael Frank's diary is in the Wisconsin historical library. 1936] Editorial Comment 463 property. It reads: 'We, the subscribers, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- quillity, promote our common welfare, and secure the bless- ings of social happiness to ourselves and our posterity, do adopt the following constitution.' The document has seven articles. In the first, the object is set out to be 'the prosecution of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, the arts and sciences, education, and domestic industry according to the system of Charles Fourier as near as may be practicable.' The property is to be represented by stock, in shares of $25 each, 'transferable at the will of the holder' after registration. Article II covers the plan of organization. Article III defines stockholders, conditions of membership, and of withdrawal from membership. Article IV treats of the meetings of stockholders, voting rights and limitations, and the semi-annual report of the directorate. The next article, V, prescribes the mode of apportioning dividends, which is interesting. 'Out of the total product,' it recites, 'shall first be deducted the taxes, repairs and insurance, and the balance shall be divided as follows: One quarter shall be paid as a dividend to the stockholders upon the capital stock paid in; and the remaining three quarters shall be divided among those who perform the labor.' Here we have Fourier's idea of justice to labor in a peaceful union of labor and capital. The Fourierites abhorred communism, because it denied the right of capital to any share in the product and they condemned existing capitalism because it treated labor as a commodity to be paid for on the compet- itive basis, which brought into operation the 'iron law of wages.' Justice lay midway between those extremes, in an arrangement whereby labor received three shares to capital's one. 464 Editorial Comment [June

The other two articles were mainly administrative, as were also the by-laws, comprehended under nine articles, adopted later. Alterations were made by amendment both to the constitution and to the by-laws, but in substance they remained as above until the act of incorporation, approved February 6, 1845, rendered the original constitution obso- lete. Meantime, lands had been secured in what was afterwards called the town of Kipon, in which is the city of that name, in the county of Fond du Lac; some of the South- port members of the Phalanx took possession, began breaking up prairie, and preparing shelters against the first winter. On the ground at Kipon, or as he named the domain, 'Ceresco' (the company of Ceres), was Warren Chase, vice- president and actual head of the organization, whose influence upon its affairs, first and last, was probably greater than that of any other man. Chase, a Vermonter, who had lived several years at Southport as a common laborer, possessed the intellectual power to lead, and there is evidence in the records of the Phalanx that he was upright and de- pendable.7 At the breaking up of the company it was he who was selected by vote of the whole body to close out all the property and make a division of the proceeds, which speaks well for his reputation among those who knew him best. Nevertheless, there is reason to think he was not the type of personality to pilot such a social experiment. Chase later wrote a book which he calls The Life-Line of the Lone One.8 Therein he reveals himself as a man enveloped in such impenetrable melancholy as to be obliged to spend his life virtually without helpful contacts with his fellows. And to the truth of that description his portrait bears damaging

T The records, in two volumes, are at Ripon. The writer is indebted to S. M. Pedrick, of that place, who had made most use of that material in a series of newspaper articles, for the loan of a typed transcript of the volumes. 8 Second edition, Boston and New York, 1858. WARREN CHASE

1936] Editorial Comment 465 witness. He looked like the proverbial 'gorged gourmand of gloom.' One involuntarily contrasts the social leadership of the Brook Farm group with that of Ceresco, and when we reflect that even the vivid, jovial, contagiously sociable and sane character of George Ripley was unequal to the task of holding together a small group of mostly cultivated men and women, it is not to be wondered at that Warren Chase failed with the community he gathered about him at Ceresco. Chase indulged idiosyncrasies that, due to his promi- nence, affected the standing of the Phalanx among outsiders. His teetotalism was popular at the time, and vegetarianism merely a peccadillo; but his anti-church attitude gave Ceresco the easily acquired reputation of being an 'infidel' community, and a kind of moral latitudinarianism condemned it with many who did not know these good people, as a nest of free-love heretics. Devotion to the doctrine of spiritualism marked him as 'insane.' The fact seems to be that he was neither wicked nor cracked, but full of whimsies which affected mainly his voluble talk but hardly touched his basic- ally puritan character. So he was able to appeal successfully to the larger community of Fond du Lac county as a poli- tician, to get himself elected a member of both Wisconsin constitutional conventions, and also, after the achievement of statehood, to the state senate. Partly no doubt because of his absorption in these outside activities, the Ceresco community sloughed off Chase's official leadership after 1846 and 1847 to call him back only when affairs were heading toward a crisis. He was dropped from the presidency in December, 1846, but remained for one year a member of the council. Thereafter he had no further official part in the management of the Phalanx until June, 1849, when he was chosen a member of the council to 466 Editorial Comment [June fill one of several vacancies due to resignations, a fact which sufficiently advertises the precariousness of the company's situation by that time. At the annual election in December of that year, he was chosen president by the most nearly unanimous vote he had ever received, 25 to 5, and he was also clothed with full power to audit the books of the company's agents and to attend to all sales and collections. Chase first became familiar with the territorial legislature in the winter of 1844-45 when he was designated by the Phalanx to lobby for an act of incorporation. This was needed in order to make safe the joint stock possession of the property already acquired, to encourage the campaign for new members and thus permit the expansion toward the ideal of the Fourier phalanx. He was easily successful in the house of representatives which promptly passed without criticism or amendment the bill he had prepared. In the council the story was a different one. There Ed- ward V. Whiton, of Janesville, a leading Whig member, afterwards chief justice of the Wisconsin supreme court, sub- jected the bill and the entire Fourierite idea to a searching criticism, in which he was abetted by the Argus, Democratic organ at Madison. The Argus feared the bill might create a new and dangerous monopoly, particularly as it seemed to permit the use of stock certificates as scrip. The editor asked: 'What is to hinder their circulating the stock scrip ... as money, and from banking under it to any extent?'—as the Marine and Fire Insurance company of Milwaukee did, thereby establishing the great Mitchell banking monopoly contrary to the intent of the law. Councillor Whiton admitted that the Phalanx organization would render labor more productive, but he contended it would destroy the initiative of the laborers, who would de- generate to 'mere tools' of the management; in fact they 1936] Editorial Comment 467 would become 'imbecile and inert,—totally unqualified to protect and provide for themselves should they be placed in a situation where energy and perseverance are required to accomplish this end!' His second objection was that the children would be taken charge of by the managers, the proper deference to parents would be lost, family life and influence would tend to disappear. He also, like the Argtw, objected to the power of issuing scrip. In short, he feared 'a cheating operation.' One other point this lawyer made, against the power of the board of management to exclude from the common domain any owner of a share in the property, save after having purchased his share. Under the common law, he contended, action for trespass could not lie against the owner of an undivided interest. To the defense of the Phalanx came Marshall M. Strong, of Racine, an able lawyer like Whiton, but a Democrat who twitted the Janesville member about arguing counter to his Whig mentor Greeley. Strong answered Whiton's objections more or less in a spirit of fun, but claimed that the common law, to which Whiton had appealed, authorized the doing of all the acts and things proposed in the bill. Michael Frank supported Strong, but his argument was general rather than critical. He dwelt on the old conflict between capital and labor, which the Fourierite plan resolved; described it as correcting the American 'aristocracy of opinion5 as Tocqueville called the general aloofness from common labor, and gloried in the advantages for education, both in school and outside of school, comprehended in the Phalanx organization.9 The original records of the session at which the Phalanx bill was passed show that eleven distinct amendments were adopted in the council. These eliminated some of Chase's pet

9 The discussions in the council on the Wisconsin Phalanx bill were reported, as news, in the Madison Argus of February 4, 1845, and February 8, 1845. 468 Editorial Comment [June phrases by striking out the preamble; prevented the supposed 'evils' of the possible employment of stock scrip for banking purposes; and struck out the section authorizing the ^expulsion of a member without previous payment of his membership holdings. Other changes were of a minor character. The house acceded to the council amendments and the bill passed the council, February 4, 1845, by a vote of 8 to 3. It was signed by Governor N. P. Tallmadge, Febru- ary 6, 1845. Chase hastened home with the new charter, called a meeting of the membership, and got the business started under the new system. Approval by the legislature and governor naturally was hailed as legitimatizing the experiment and caused great rejoicing. Now began a period of seeming prosperity. Applications for membership came in steadily during the year 1845, not only from people living in Wis- consin, but from a number of easterners who learned about the Phalanx through the associationist press, which Chase sedulously cultivated. More land was purchased and the fields extended; a sawmill was set in operation, a gristmill begun; a stone schoolhouse was erected, also other buildings of various kinds, and the company's Long House, or phalanstery, extended and completed. Could the spirit of the year 1845 have been maintained for a full decade there is a possibility that the Phalanx might have become permanently established on a modified Fourier- ist basis. But this was not to be, and we must now try to point out the causes of its failure. These are to be inferred from the entries in the record book, and partly confirmed in statements published by Mr. Chase. The first president elected after the settlement at Ceresco was L P , chosen at the regular meeting in De- cember, 1844. In August, 1845, he resigned, and he was 1936] Editorial Comment 469 given no recognition whatever in the next election—was not even voted on as one among the nine councillors. Six months later a series of complaints against P was presented to the council. Further action being ordered thereon, at a special meeting of resident members of the Phalanx, J!uly 30, 1846, P was expelled from the company. This was the first actual crisis, and while the detailed charges against the former president have not been preserved, the form of organization made the regulation of the company's business affairs exceedingly awkward and there may well have been irregularities in his accounts without turpitude on his part. Here was the actual set up: There were five so-called 'series': the agricultural, the mechanical, the commercial, the educational, and the domestic. In each series were as many 'groups' as seemed requisite to the work in hand. For example, agriculture had a plowing group, a harvesting group, a fencing group, a dairying group, a teamster group, a manager of sheep, a manager of pigs, a manager of poultry, a manager of the gardens. Each head of a series, each head of a group, and each worker at a separate task was obliged to keep books, for every worker's time had to be accurately ac- counted for because it was the basis on which he would share the proceeds at the annual division. Members were constantly shuffled from group to group, adding to the complex- ity of the accounting. Since a committee was once appointed to report on P 's time, it may have been a question of that kind which caused the difficulty. What was needed, as can now be clearly seen, was a Jhighly skilled business manager, instead of whom the com- 'pany was at the mercy of the council which met at least one evening a week; it talked and resolved but obviously could not inject business methods into all branches of the organization. The council did its best, dealing sometimes with the 470 Editorial Comment [June pettiest matters, as when they appointed one of their number to buy twenty yards of sheeting, ordered boots bought for two named members, called on the blacksmith for weekly accounts, instructed the secretary to keep separate accounts for the public boarding table, for the time spent in making soap and candles; in threshing, butchering, milling, care of cows, and of hens. They even resolved, 'That N. Strong be instructed to set no more eggs this season.' Fortunately, 'N. Strong' was a man. Had the order been directed to a typ- ical farm woman, trouble might have ensued. A well authenticated difficulty that the organization encountered was connected with the plan of unitary living. The Long House was divided into apartments for families below and rooms for single persons above, the living quarters opening upon a gallery or veranda that ran the whole length of the building both below and above. This gallery was common ground, as was also the dining room or hall, and of course the kitchen, though the latter was specially staffed. Provision was made for permitting those families who preferred to do their own cooking in their separate quarters to have their pro rata share of provisions, but nothing more, which doubtless placed them at a disadvantage, since kitchen utensils and dining equipment had to be supplied out of their own means. Moreover, the close neighborhood with other families irked some. These people, with few exceptions, had as their sole background the individualistic rural life. Had they been privileged to ignore their neighbors, as city 'flat' dwellers do, many of them might have been content. But here every neighbor was a partner in business, a sharer in labor, and a companion in social affairs. They could not be ignored. Yet their children, their dogs, their garbage were just as annoy- ing as those about whom, in the city, we call up the police. 1936] Editorial Comment 471

One of the unsolved riddles of this Fourierist movement in America is why Greeley, who stripped the Frenchman's plan of so many 'senseless' excrescences, should have failed to appreciate the fatal flaw in the principle of unitary living. Perhaps New York City had blotted out the memory of his Vermont farm upbringing. At all events, the common housing scheme made trouble wherever among the forty American phalanxes it was tried. At Ceresco the council had to act as early as February, 1846, in an effort to prevent members from living elsewhere than on the company's domain. In June of that year they passed a stringent regulation denouncing the punishment of expulsion against families who should desert in that way, and promptly thereafter notified several persons to return within ten days on pain of expulsion. And now follows an almost unbroken series of resignations and expulsions until there was nothing left to do but close out the company's interests, a movement which began early in 1849 and was formally agreed to in August of that year. Chase secured from the state legislature an amendment to the charter authorizing proceedings for closing out and, as stated, was given full charge of the business. Fortunately for the members, a town site had been laid out between two portions of the Ceresco domain which en- abled the company to plat additions to what is now the city of Ripon and to sell much of its land as town lots. In con- sequence, the division was a cheerful affair, the stockholders finding themselves materially better off than ttey had anticipated. Most of the former members of the Phalanx remained as citizens of the pleasant new city. A goodly number were on hand in March, 1854, to assist at the 'birth' of the Republican party, or of a political party to which the 472 Editorial Comment [June name 'Republican' was newly applied. The descendants of some are there to this day. That unitary living was a fundamental reason for the company's failure is testified by Chase himself, who frankly confesses that it was the main cause of the disruption. 'This apple of discord,' he says, 'finally grew until it was of sufficient power to break up the society, with other feebler aids.' It is interesting to speculate about the duration of the Phal- anx had the housing question been eliminated by providing a separate dwelling for each family as they did, for example, at Hopedale, Massachusetts. Probably the next proximate cause of disruption would have been the cooperative plan of ownership and of production—especially unitary labor. If we do not misread the records of the Wisconsin Phalanx, that was one of the 'feebler aids' to the break-up in this case and it is hardly doubtful that it would have proved an efficient cause within a few years had the other difficulty been cured. It is, of course, quite true that people of a different tradition and training from the American, especially where they operate under some venerated or feared authority, can en- gage successfully in cooperative production even in agriculture. But the American sentiment for private ownership and management of land is too strong to be easily uprooted. In the early spring of 1846 Brook Farm had a disastrous fire which wrecked its financial prospects and forced its leaders to contemplate the failure of their plans. By that time most of the other experiments begun with such eclat during the preceding three or four years were likewise headed for the rocks. Under the chastening of these buffetings of fate, Ripley (or some other Brook farmer) wrote an article for the Harbinger entitled: 'The Organization of Labor.'10

10 Harbinger, July 25, 1846. 1936] Editorial Comment 473

He admits that genuine Fourierism may not succeed for a long time, but contends that meanwhile a minimum type of association would be quite feasible. For example, 100 or 120 families from the East could remove to the West where they might take up, in individual holdings, a township or more of land. They could agree to set apart a fifty-acre tract near the center around which all could build their individual dwellings. Each family, then, would have a separate home and a separate farm. They could, however, own in common, as joint stock shareholders, barns, granaries, shops, a mill; horses, oxen, cows, and sheep; machinery and tools. They could work their lands more economically and more efficiently under such a system. They could also cooperate in purchases of supplies at wholesale, which a 'smart woman' could distribute from a central store, and in the sale of their products by one of their best salesmen. They could maintain the right kind of school, have a community hall for lectures and other means of adult education, a community library, a park, an experimental farm, orchards, and gardens, and a common bakery. Today there remains no opportunity for large groups of families to move onto townships of unoccupied land. Never- theless, cooperative enterprises do exist in this country under favorable conditions. Mr. Chase, in the swan song of the Wisconsin Phalanx, remarks with charming naivete: 'The Lone One saw that the only obstacle to success in social and cooperative life was the undeveloped and prejudiced condition of the people.5 Whether or not he would have allowed for these defects and prejudices were he planning another uplift movement, he does not tell us. We are aware that cooperation is practised widely among the farmers of Fond du Lac county. Cheese making and cheese marketing on that basis began not less than seventy 474 Editorial Comment [June years ago and it has been almost universal for half a century. The wheat growers of the great plains cooperate in building elevators for the storage, grading, and economical marketing of their grain. Hood river valley orchardists have long maintained cooperative warehouses, and have even paid pom- ological experts to 'regiment' them in the war against the San Jose scale, providing also the best obtainable help in dis- posing of their product. Dairymen's associations, fruit growers associations, nut growers associations, tobacco growers associations, potato growers associations are by no means confined to restricted local areas, but prevail in many counties of many states. A striking fact, however, applicable to all of these cases is this: The people who act together so cheerfully in farm and orchard enterprises, actuated by the profit motive, do not live in phalansteries; nor are their farm and orchard pro- perties represented by bits of paper called stock certificates. On the contrary, they live in homes of their very own, on lands which for the time at least are personal domains. Of these, during the specified tenure, they are veritable monarchs, as well as self-directing workers. There is here no operating under the control of 'series' or 'groups.' The moral seems to be that a large measure of cooperative activity is possible among Americans provided they are guaranteed the requisite privacy for nursing fundamental and unalienable individualist proclivities. JOSEPH SCHAFER 1936] Communication 475

COMMUNICATION Superintendent A. E. Sheldon of the Nebraska state historical society has sent the following correction: 'In a very interesting article in the March issue of your magazine—Hawley's Diary, by Lynn I. Perrigo, on page 333 is the statement that Fort Kearny in Nebraska was named after General Phil Kearny. This fort was named after Gen- eral Stephen W. Kearny. In volume xxi of Nebraska historical society publications is a complete discussion of the naming of this fort.' BOOK NOTES

The British Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest. By Louise Phelps Kellogg, senior research associate of state historical society of Wisconsin (State historical society of Wisconsin, Madison, 1935). 361 pp. $2.50. Of the influence of the British in Wisconsin, 1760-1815, Dr. Kellogg concludes in this admirable study, a worthy successor to her French Regime: The British traders came and went, took their toll of Wis- consin's furs and enriched themselves at the Indians' expense. ... They developed no institutions, assumed no governmental functions, built up no new settlements. The British regime was a wilderness regime, perpetu- ated solely in the interests of the fur trade/ If this final judgment leans toward a materialistic interpretation, it must be admitted that in primitive conditions the activities of men, not yet softened by manners and amenities, exhibit the strong primary force of economic necessity. The task which Dr. Kellogg has undertaken (to reconstruct the internal history of Wisconsin and to place local events in their general historical setting, and a formidable task it is, too) has been performed in a highly competent manner. We observe the location and way of life of the Wisconsin Indians (the Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, Menominee) ; we see them affected by tribal movements from the outside; we follow them to the hunt, to the council fire, and to those forest markets where they sold their furs to British traders and French voyageurs who remained to serve the British who took possession of the Northwest in 1760. At Mackinac we see the small interior traders fitting out trading parties with goods purchased from Montreal on credit; at Montreal we observe British merchants importing such goods from London and receiving the furs from the interior traders; at London we catch glimpses of the merchant princes who supplied Montreal on credit, reaped the principal profits of the trade, and influenced British policy and diplomacy for the advancement of their interests in the Northwest. If Wisconsin was but a pawn in the game of war, politics, trade, and diplomacy, what a game it was! The French, retreating in 1760, played a losing hand at Paris and New Orleans; the British, moving in on the heels of the French, commanded the play until 1814 from London and Montreal; the Americans, entering the contest about 1760, gradually extended their influence, won two inconclusive victories in 1783 and 1794, and finally triumphed in 1814. On four occasions European and Ameri- can statesmen tried to bring the contest to a close: in 1763 and 1783 at Paris, in 1794 at London, and in 1814 at Ghent. In relating the external aspects of the story Dr. Kellogg has ex- plored the principal printed sources and has utilized the researches of Booh Notes 477 such scholars as Alvord, Carter, Stevens, James, and Bemis, presenting compact and lucid summaries of policies and events which give her work great value as a resume of a major theme in American history. As is natural, the special contributions of her study illumine the local aspects of the subject; of particular interest are her accounts of Jonathan Carver in Wisconsin (1766-67), of Robert Rogers' administration at Mackinac (1766-68), and of the Anglo-American struggle for the North- west (1768-81). So familiar is Dr. Kellogg with this material, much of which she has edited herself, that she is able to convey the spirit of the American forest in a manner suggestive of Francis Parkman. The method of treatment is narrative rather than analytical; for this reason the wealth of detail devoted to different themes, chronologi- cally arranged, often obscures the main issues. Although the reader may piece together a description of the fur trade from the various parts of the book, perhaps an integrated account of its organization and methods, together with an estimate of its profits and a presentation of the political activities of the men who dominated it, would add emphasis and clarity. For after all, Wisconsin was a field of commercial exploitation and the most influential group was not the missionaries, the settlers, the voyageurs, the engages, the soldiers, the officials, or even the Indians, but the great merchant princes of London and Montreal. For students of local history Dr. Kellogg has presented an account that is fresh, detailed, graphic, and authentic; for students of general American history her work gives an excellent summary of the role of the Northwest in Anglo-American relations during fifty momentous years. CURTIS NETTELS

The Civil War Letters of Colonel Hans Christian Heg, edited by Theodore C. Blegen (Norwegian-American historical association, North- field, Minn., 1936). 260 pp. $2.50. Colonel Heg's is a name to conjure with. Coming to America with his parents when eleven years of age, his father's home in Muskego community was the center and goal of Norwegian emigrants, and there he learned the culture and religion of his people. He also learned to know and appreciate his adopted country. Two years as a California argonaut taught him much of America's enterprise; a plunge into Wis- consin politics gave him new impressions, and his term of service as prison commissioner though brief was successful. It was natural, therefore, that on the outbreak of the Civil war Heg should volunteer and also that he should be commissioned colonel of the Fifteenth Wisconsin volunteers, known everywhere as the Scandinavian regiment. With this event his letters home begin, the first being dated Camp Randall, Jan- uary 16, 1862. It is characteristic, too, of Heg's assimilation that his home letters were written in the English language. From Madison to Chickamauga stretched the long, long trail; and there was abruptly ended by a Confederate bullet. Heg has become thus the Norwegian hero. His statue stands in the Capitol park at Madison, 478 Book Notes with replicas at; his birthplace and his first Wisconsin home. Thus the publication of his letters becomes a grateful task for the Norwegian- American historical society. Its able and scholarly editor, Dr. Blegen, has done his task well. His introduction with a brief biography of Heg is all that one could ask. His notes are illuminating, and the editing of the manuscripts discriminating. The editor's summation of Heg's character and personality is masterly, not fulsome but appreciative. The Norwegian-American historical association is to be congratulated on this its latest publication.

A Short History of Milwaukee. By George William Bruce (Bruce publishing company, Milwaukee). 249 pp. $1.75. This little book is a resume of Bruce's larger History of Milwaukee published some years ago. Supposedly it is for use in the city schools, but certain important omissions and errors of fact render its adaptability for that purpose somewhat questionable. Concerning the early years of the city's history, Bruce gives all credit to Solomon Juneau, without mention of the responsible founder, Morgan L. Martin, who was Juneau's partner and associate, without whose advice Juneau probably never sold a lot or took a forward step. In the author's list of early traders, several are omitted—the Historical society has records of at least fourteen traders before Vieau and Mirandeau (Maranda). In the author's account of the early government, town, village, and county are confused. He speaks favorably of Milwaukee's present government, about which his knowledge is exceptionally complete, but he says practically nothing of the government from 1846 to the present. While pleasant reading, therefore, as one would expect from this fluent writer, the book cannot be regarded as a balanced and adequate treatment of its important theme.

Daniel Hoan, mayor of Milwaukee recently elected for sixth term, has written a book entitled City Government1—the Record of the Mil- waukee Experiment* The publishers, Harcourt, Brace and company, announced that it would be put on sale March 12, the mayor's birthday. A review will be presented in our next issue.

John B. Chappie, editor of the Ashland Times and an avowed candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 1936, has published privately a book entitled La Toilette Road to Communism which appears to have been designed for a campaign textbook. It is illustrated with eighty-eight photographs. THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE

LOUISE PHELPS KELLOGG I THE SOCIETY

UPERINTENDENT Joseph Schafer returned from London on March 23 S after a delightful but brief trip. The staff joined in a dinner March 28 honoring his return. His lectures delivered before University College of the University of London will be issued by the Macmillan company simultaneously in England and the United States under the title Social History of American Agriculture.

Research Associate Kellogg's British Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest was mailed to the members of the society in February. A review appears on a preceding page.

The following new members have joined the society since the last report: Life: Charles Bunn, Madison; Josias E. Filorin, Menomonie; and Warren H. Resh, Madison. Annual: James Abajian, Madison; Dr. R. G. Arveson, Frederic; T. Fred Baker, Milwaukee; W. Wade Boardman, Madison; Dr. Fred- erik C. Christensen, Racine; Otto F. Christenson, Lancaster; Dr. W. T. Clark, Janesville; John Cmeyla, Kewaunee; George E. Crothers, Neills- ville; Mrs. Farrington Daniels, Madison; James F. Dougherty, Wis- consin Dells; Ottmar J. Falge, Ladysmith; Scott H. Goodnight, Madison; Lee S. Greene, Knoxville, Tennessee; Quincy H. Hale, La Crosse; A. J. Hedding, Milwaukee; James R. Hile, Superior; James P. Kaysen, Madison; Alonzo F. Kellogg, Portage; Dr. Floyd L. Litzen, Gresham; Carl M. Lynn, Osceola; Archibald McKay, Superior; Dr. Frederick W. Madison, Milwaukee; M. M. Morrissey, Madison; Archie L. Nash, Man- itowoc; Dr. George W. Neilson, Milwaukee; Robert N. Njelson, Madi- son; Glenn D. Roberts, Madison; John E. Roe, Madison; Rev. Theodore Rohner, Beaver Dam; Ferdinand H. Schlichting, Sheboygan; Alfred Senn, Madison; J. Allan Simpson, Racine; Gordon Sinykin, Madison; Dr. L. D. Smith, Milwaukee; Ernest O. Thedinga, Oshkosh; E. B. War- ren, Green Bay; Carl F. Wehrwein, Madison; Dr. D. E. W. Wenstrand, Milwaukee; A. J. Whitcomb, Milwaukee. Wisconsin school: St. Mary's academy, Prairie du Chien. 480 The Society and the State [June

NECROLOGY

Dr. Rasmus B. Anderson, the well-known Norse scholar, died in Madison, March 2, at the age of ninety. He has been a curator of this society since 1877 (except for the years he was United States minister to Denmark) having outlived all the members of the board to which he was first elected nearly sixty years ago. A more extended obituary will appear later.

Other life members missing from our ranks include Howard Teas- dale of Sparta, former state senator, who died January 14; Joseph M. Hixon, formerly of La Crosse, who died January 25 at Pasadena, Cal- ifornia; Perley R. Sanborn, officer of the Northwestern mutual life insurance company, who died March 7 at Milwaukee; and August J. Schloerb of Omro, who passed away March 6.

Herbert Pitz, an annual member of Manitowoc, died there in De- cember last.

Aleida J. Pieters, dean of Milwaukee-Downer college, an annual member of the society, died April 6, after a brief illness. Her historical research concerned the migrations from Holland to Michigan and Wis- consin.

ACCESSIONS

In June, a year ago, we reported the gift by the Misses Densmore of Red Wing, Minnesota, of a number of letters written to their father Benjamin Densmore, formerly of Rock county, Wisconsin. To this gift have been added thirty additional letters for the years 1854 to 1857, written from Wisconsin to their father after he had removed to Min- nesota. The letters treat mainly of family matters, but bear also upon crops, business conditions, railroad building, schools, and the Fremont presidential campaign. Mrs. A. R. Van Doren, of Summit, New Jersey, a great grand- daughter of Colonel Hans C. Heg, the Civil war officer whose statue stands in Capitol square, Madison, has sent to this library over a hundred letters of Colonel Heg written from his encampments during the years 1862 to September 18, 1863, the day before he was killed at Chickamauga. These newly received letters are a welcome addition to those already in the society's care; the two collections form the basis for Dr. Theodore C. Blegen's recent biography of Colonel Heg. See ante, 477.

The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the state of Wisconsin has presented the Book of Remembrance, compiled 1936] The State 481 by Mrs. Frank H. Lindsay. It contains the names of the donors to the purchase, restoration, and furnishing of the Indian Agency house near Portage, with the Wisconsin ancestor of each donor and his career. It is a mine of facts concerning early Wisconsin families, thoroughly indexed.

Rev. H. A. Block, of Adell, has translated for the society volume one of a two-volume diary of Rev. Henry Esch, pioneer Evangelical missionary preacher in Sauk county and elsewhere in Wisconsin and also in parts of Iowa. Rev. Henry Esch was the father of John J. Esch, a congressman from the seventh Wisconsin district for twenty years and later a member of the Interstate commerce commission.

E. E. Elliott, of Kansas City, Missouri, has sent to the society a dozen letters of the 1830's, 1840's, and 1850's. These were written by the family of Rev. Solomon A. Dwinnell, a prominent missionary of early Wisconsin, who was the donor's grandfather. The society already possessed Dwinnell's manuscript history of Walworth county.

Colonel Howard Greene, custodian of the Upham papers, Milwau- kee, sent to this library all papers connected with a suit involving the operations of one of the historic corporations of Wisconsin, the Green bay and Mississippi canal company, successor to the Fox-Wisconsin improvement company.

Belle C. Bonn's 'Memories of Monona/ an account of the Monona lake (Sunday school) assembly, which was held for many summers where now is Olin park, Madison, has been presented by Mrs. Maurine Aust.

II THE STATE

As noted in the; March issue, the centennial of Wisconsin territory and of many of its communities will take place this summer. A bill for coining a commemorative half dollar has passed the United States congress and has been signed by the President. The coin will be largely used as a memorial of the event. The celebration at Madison will occur June 27 to July 5 and will be not merely local but for the entire state. Oshkosh celebrates its centennial July 9-25 when the county historical society plans to erect over forty markers in the city and its vicinity. Lake Mills will celebrate August 16-18 the coming of its first settlers. The state fair at Milwaukee August 22-30 will devote the first two days to a special celebration of the centennial. It should be remembered in all these celebrations that the name Wisconsin was then first applied officially to the region between Lakes Michigan and Superior and the Mississippi. This region had been part 482 The Society and the State [June of the Northwest territory, of Indiana and Illinois territories, and of Michigan territory. Not until April 20, 1836, when President Jackson signed the territorial act, did our region receive a permanent name.

In January the Layton art gallery at Milwaukee exhibited over two score water colors by Mrs. Margaret Hall Sellack, showing the historic buildings of the state. For Green Bay was shown the Porlier-Tank cot- tage, probably the oldest dwelling in the Northwest, the Moravian church, views of Fort Howard, and of the first Episcopal church. At De Pere the first courthouse in Wisconsin was depicted. From higher up the Fox the Eleazar Williams house was painted. At Portage the Old Indian Agency house was portrayed; from Platteville came four pictures including the Mitchell-Rountree home and the old academy building. From Prairie du Chien Fort Crawford and the Dousman house were shown. In Milwaukee the replica of Vieau's cabin, the little cathe- dral of St. Peter, and the old courthouse square were among the earliest and most picturesque scenes.

The Logan archeological museum on Beloit college campus was recently the recipient of six fine murals, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan of Chicago. These pictures relate to the vanishing In- dian life of the Southwest and are the work of Eric Winterberg. The reception room has been replenished with tables and chairs designed by a Mexican wood carver, Jesus Torres.

It is always considered that the inventor of the typewriter was a citizen of Wisconsin, C. Latham Sholes, and no one disputes that our present day machines derive from him. Nevertheless, other inventors worked on the problem, and the Minnesota historical society has found a typed letter of 1846 and has located the inventor and his machine, one Charles Thurber of Worcester, Massachusetts. So far as known, Thurber's machine was never produced for commercial use. See Min- nesota History, xvi, 445-447.

LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

The lecture course arranged by the Burlington historical society was opened by Dr. Barrett of the Milwaukee museum; the course proved efficacious in more than doubling the society's membership. The society has recently received from the Standard Democrat a donation of old papers and documents concerning early Burlington.

The Langlade county society was entertained in February by students of the county normal school. One paper presented was on Dr. Charles Borup, an early Lake Superior fur trader, agent of the Ameri- can fur company. 1936] The State 483

The Racine county historical society is considering reorganization in order to sponsor the publication of the historical work of Eugene W. Leach, county historian, who reports that it is ready to go to press.

The paper presented last December to the Sauk county society by James A. Stone has been issued in pamphlet form under the title 'Some Sauk County Teachers I Have Known/ One of these was Albert Earth- man, a German, who enlisted in the Nineteenth Wisconsin infantry and served through the Civil war. Another teacher herein memorialized was James T. Lunn, county superintendent, 1874-85.

The Winnebago county society listened on March 10 to Mrs. Alan H. Tripp on 'My Eighteen Years of Experience in the Lumber Camps of Michigan/ Mrs. Tripp's father was a French 'cruiser/ and her mother was camp cook for several years. Much of her description revealed the type of life about which Edna Ferber wrote her recent novel of early Wisconsin, Come and Get It.

Wausau is arranging a museum for Marathon county of historical articles, collected by the WPA and NYA organizations, under the direc- tion of Karl Mathie. A house to house canvass has been made and a number of relics secured.

MARKERS AND MEMORIALS

At Lancaster is a Civil war monument which has a history. It is claimed that this memorial, dedicated July1 4, 1867, was the first in the state and one of the first such monuments erected in the United States. If any other community has an older monument with the record thereof, the historical society would be glad to learn of it. At present Grant county ranks high as among the first to commemorate the nation's soldiers of the Civil war.

The Dousman house at Prairie du Chien, noted ante, xviii, 236, is being refitted and prepared as a historical shrine and a public memorial of the early days of that place. In excavating for a swimming pool on the grounds, many Indian relics were found, as well as a portion of a cannon ball, known to have been used in 1814 at Fort Shelby. Several documents and pictures in the society's care are being photographed to form an exhibit of early Prairie du Chien pioneers and happenings. One of these pictures from the Lewis portfolio shows the treaty ground for the famous Treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825, with the first Fort Craw- ford in the background. This is the site on which the Dousman house was built. The former furniture of the house is being returned and the entire house is being renovated under the care of the donors, Mrs. Violet Dousman Young and Mrs. Virginia Dousman Bigelow. 484 The Society and the State [June

The purchase of the Dewey home not far from Cassville, mentioned ante, xix, 365, has been completed and it has been placed in the care of the state superintendent of parks and forests.

A bronze memorial plaque bearing the names of the gold star men of Milwaukee county has been prepared for the Cudworth memorial building on Prospect avenue.

Congress paid belated honors to General William Mitchell of Mil- waukee by awarding posthumously the congressional medal for his services in the World war.

It was mentioned in the December issue {ante, 249) that the new Winneconne bridge over Wolf river had been named for the late Senator White. A tablet was attached to the bridge November 25, when the bridge was opened to traffic, reading 'Winneconne bridge, dedicated to the memory of Senator Merritt F. White, 1865-1934. A leading figure and a public servant who gave unsparingly of his time and effort in order that his state, his county, and his local community might enjoy the fruits of progress/ The formal dedicatory services occurred this spring.

The triangular park on the south side of Milwaukee has been named the Giacomo-Trucanio park in honor of two youths from Milwaukee's Italian colony who died in the last war.

ANNIVERSARIES

The Chicago and Northwestern railway had a centenary in January, recalling that in that month, 1836, the Galena and Chicago Union railroad was chartered, which became the first unit of the present great system. Chartering, however, did not mean immediate building and it was 1848 before the first locomotive ran out from Chicago, the precursor of the giants of the present.

The Milwaukee Sentinel, the oldest newspaper in the city, is preparing to celebrate its centennial within the next twelve-month.

Beloit college celebrated its ninetieth birthday February 11 with a banquet for the local alumni. Professor H. D. Densmore recounted the struggles and triumphs of the institution and portrayed several of the first members of the faculty.

The Polish-Americans of the state are preparing a celebration for the eightieth anniversary of the first group of settlers that came to Portage county and for the seventieth anniversary of the first Polish church in Milwaukee which occurs this year. There are now nearly a 1936] The State 485 hundred thousand Milwaukeeans of Polish extraction, and a large number in Stevens Point.

The Alumni association of the University of Wisconsin is celebrating the seventy-fifth year since its founding in June, 1861. During April reunions were held in the principal cities of the state and nation, cul- minating in a homecoming at Madison during Commencement week.

Tomahawk was half a century old this year and chose July 3 to 6 to hold a celebration of pioneers and recall the days of logging camps.

HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS

The Milwaukee Journal for January 5 detailed the story of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce with its founders, John Nazro, J. A. Dutcher, H. H. Button, Franklin J. Blair, Clarence Shepard, and John Goodrich—substantial business men of seventy-five years ago. The above citizens were pictured and others mentioned.

Curator W. A. Titus wrote for the Eond du Lac Commonwealth and Reporter February 5 a graphic account of the great Indian scare of 1862 with its tragic and absurd episodes.

The Post-Crescent of Appleton for February 26 pictured that city's oldest residence, which has been bought to be removed to and preserved in the new Pierce park. This one-roomj log cabin was built in 1852 by Antoine Meidam, who was killed in the Civil war.

The Free Press of Reedsburg published February 14 The Story of Old Settlers Day' by John A. Zimmerman. Several letters were published from former Reedsburgers now living at a distance.

An interview with Mrs. Annie Knudson on her eighty-eighth birthday appeared in the Beloit Daily News for January 24. She was born in Brodhead of Norwegian parents and was barely a year old when the gold rush to California began and her father and two elder brothers joined in the trek. The father never returned. The narrator remembered the first railway locomotive which came to Beloit and the strenuous days of the Civil war.

The Watertown Daily Times for January 23 published an article on the early history of Lebanon, Dodge county, by August Moldenhauer, narrating events in that early German colony.

The Milwaukee Sentinel on January 26 described a collection of rare books owned by Dr. Louis Fuerstenau. It is especially rich in bibles, containing a German one of 1762. He has also a written Koran, be- 486 The Society and the State [June lieved to be several hundred years old; with books on Mohammedanism, Brahmanism, and Zoroastrianism, and other religions. There is an example of incunabula from Venice of 1491; a first American edition of Dickens; signed volumes of Kipling, Maeterlinck, and many modern authors.

OF WIDER INTEREST

The Mississippi valley historical association met at Austin, Texas, April 16-18, honoring the Texas centenary of independence. On Friday the members of the association motored to San Antonio for a historic pil- grimage. The University of Texas entertained at a luncheon on the sixteenth. The presidential address of Dr. Louis Pelzer concerned 'Pioneer Stagecoach Travel.' Professor Edward E. Dale of the University of Oklahoma was elected president for the coming year.

An important group of Indian burial mounds in Iowa, along the Mississippi, opposite Prairie du Chien, has been preserved by purchase of the land by the Iowa conservation commission. About the same time the United States survey transferred to Iowa, Pike's peak and the pictured rocks opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin river for a state park. The whole terrain will form a park of a thousand acres along the picturesque upper Mississippi.

The so-called Kensington runestone has been the subject of much historical controversy since its discovery in 1898, and especially since its exploitation in recent years. (See this magazine, ante, iii and iv, passim.) A recent book by H. R. Holand (ante, xv, 380) has brought forth new criticism. An article by Laurence M. Larson, Nprse scholar and historian at the University of Illinois, appears in the March issue of Minnesota History (xvii, 20-37) which states the author's belief that the stone is a forgery, the work of two men, one with some claim to scholarship, the other with skill as a stonecutter, and that it was planted where it was found some time in the early eighties of last century.

Charles B. Pike was reflected president of the Chicago historical society at its seventy-ninth annual meeting the end of January. James A. James of Evanston was chosen president of the Illinois historical society to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Otto L. Schmidt. An appreciation of the latter appears in the Journal of the Illinois historical society for January (xxix, 237).

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

William F. Raney ('The Building of Wisconsin Railroads'), of Appleton, is professor of European history at Lawrence college. His 1936] Our Contributors 487 article on Tine Lumbering in Wisconsin' appeared in our magazine last September.

W. A. Titus ('The Westward Trail'), of Fond du Lac, a curator of our society, is well known to our readers for his many historical publications. In this issue he continues the serial on his ancestors who became Wisconsin pioneers, locating in Fond du Lac county.

Documents—Letters from the Richard Emerson Ela collection are published in this issue. Mr. Ela was an early settler at Rochester, Racine county, Wisconsin, where he became one of Wisconsin's important manufacturers.

INDEX

A , deserter, 153; service, 160. memorial highway in, 250. Abbot, Edwin H., railroad promoter, Augustana historical society, publish 401. Swedish immigration material, 356. Abbotsford, on railroad, 400. Auraria (Colo.), becomes part of Den- Accola, Erhardt, buys farm, 226-227. ver, 338; on Cherry creek, 339. Accola, Maude, graduates from high school, 227. Lieut. , Pine lake pioneer, Accola, Valentine, pioneer of Sauk county, 209; finds Indian mounds, J. See J. L . 214; Sunday school in home, 223. -, J., deserter, 146-148, 151. Adams, Prof. Herbert, on Johns Hop- B-—-, J., recruit, 155, 157-158, 160. kins faculty, 100. B , L. P., bounty jumper, 290-293. Adirondack mountains, settlers in, 102- Baensch, Judge Emil, on nominating 103. committee, 121. Adobe Town. See Kearney City Baer (Bar), Henricus, Pennsylvania (Neb.). pioneer, 264. Alaska, settlers in, 102. Baer, Jacob, Pennsylvania pioneer, 265. Albemarle island, volcano on, 228. Baer I, Martin, Canadian pioneer, 265- Albertus, Fred, in Sauk county, 207. 266; son of, 267. Albrecht, Jacob, founds church, 182. Baer II, Martin, sketch, 267, 409; in- Alderson and company, en route to cident about, 410; log house, 425. Pike's peak, 328, 330. Baer II, Mrs. Martin, marriage, 267. Allen, , Iowa resident, 329. Baer, Michael, son of, 265. Allen, H. S., lumber interests, 78-79; Baer, Samuel, Pennsylvania pioneer, deputy, 277; plans raid, 278; aids in 265. raid, 279-282. Bailey family, query about, 155. Allen, Prof. William F., of University Bangor, resident, 209. of Wisconsin, 100. Banister, Zilpa G., friend of, 36. Alma, visited, 158-159. Baraboo, resident, 185; hotel near, 208; American bar association, address be- Indian mound near, 214; on railroad, fore, 376. 397. Anderson, Paul, missionary report pub- Baraboo Air line railway, route, 397. lished, 356. Bark river, described, 179. Anderson, Dr. Rasmus B., death, 480. Barker, , in lumber camp, 282. Andover theological seminary, profes- Barney, D. N. and company, buys rail- sor at, 33, 36. roads, 397. Andreas, A. T., Historical Atlas of the Barrington island, passed, 103. State of Iowa, cited, 327-328. Barron, site of, 282. Annie Johnson, river steamboat, 149. Barron county, river in, 78; deputy of, Apache Indians, near Denver, 339. 137; county seat, 282. Appleton, in lumbering region, 75; on Barry, , visited, 323. railroads, 389, 395, 401. Barton, A. O., on nominating com- Arapahoe Indians, near Denver, 339. mittee, 121. Arauco (Chile), whaler anchors near, Bashford, Gov. Coles, receives railway 343, 352-353; crew leaves, 348. bonds, 391. Argyle, resident, 319; student at, 320; Battell, Robbins, acquaintance of, 33; church services at, 322; population, letters to, 34, 37, 48, 52, 54-55. 323; distance from Omaha, 329; dis- Baumgaertner, Rev. , conducts tance from Denver, 342. services on Sauk prairie, 225. Arndt, John P., lumber interests, 73. Baumgarth, Elsa M., teacher, 208. Ashippun river, Norwegian congrega- Bayfield, on proposed railroad, 390, tion at, 313. 399; on railroad, 397. Ashland, on railroads, 399-400, 402. Beach, , in Indian scare, 135. Ashland county, river source in, 78; Beaumont, Sophie, death, 358. 490 Index

Beaumont, Dr. William, memorial high- Book Notes, 108-109, 242-244, 356, 476- way named for, 119. 478. Beaver, whaling vessel, 232. Boone county (111.), river in, 438. Beaver creek, on gold rush route, 337. Bostwick, W. C, oration by, 203. Beef river, tavern in valley, 158. Boyd, Mrs. Joseph M., donor of diary, Beef slough, use impaired, 83. 222. Beef slough booming company, meth- Bracklin, James, lumber camp foreman, ods, 81; sold, 82. 276; raid on camp of, 280; disloyalty, Belleville. See Johnson Creek. 282. Beloit, growth of, 38-39. Bragg, Edward S., presidential aspi- Beloit college, article on, 32-70. rant, 376. 'Beloit College Faculty, The M

Burrus family, natives of Holland, 271; Chadwick, Samuel, diary acquired, 112. New York pioneers, 272. Channing family, reformers, 458. Burt, , undersheriff, 154, 158. Chapin, Aaron L., of Beloit college, Bushnell, Emma, father of, 36; cited, 32, 34-37, 39; Yale graduate, 33; 38. inauguration, 34, 51-53; addresses, Bushnell, Jackson J., of Beloit college, 54, 57, 63. 32, 35, 47, 65; Yale graduate, 33; Chapin, Ellen F., owns manuscript, 54. characterized, 38, 44; business inter- Chapin, Prof. R. C, address by, 33, 52. ests, 39; letter, 68. Chapman, Alice G., death, 111. Bushnell, Mrs. Sarah E., reminiscences Chapman, Nelson C., lumber interests, cited, 36, 47. 79. Buttles, Anson W., diary copied, 112. Chappie, John B., La Follette Road to Communism, noted, 478. Dr., examining surgeon, 152, Charles island, sighted, 103; in southern Pacific, 227, 347-348. Dr., of Dunnville, issues dis- Chartist movement, in England, 455. charge, 141, 152. Chase, Warren, leader of phalanx, 464- C , G., cousin of, 290; ill, 291. 468, 471-472; Life-Line of the Lone C , J., recruit, 152, 154-160; dis- One, 464, 473; portrait, 464. charged, 153. Chatham island, in southern Pacific, Calahan, J. G., deputy, 277, 279; plan 347. raid, 278. Cheese making, cooperative, 473-474. Caledonia, Scotch at, 101. Chenequa lake. See Pine lake. California, migration to, 43, 204, 321, Chequamegon bay, railroad on, 402. 324, 336. Cherry creek, cities on, 339. Callao (Peru), brigg in port, 347. Chester. See East Waupun. Cambria, residents, 102. Cheyenne Indians, near Denver, 339. Cameron, on railroad, 401. Chicago (111.), port, 4, 269; minister at, Campbell, Mrs. . See Louisa 5; transportation to, 14, 17, 20; lum- Hawley. ber market, 72-73; residents, 183, Campbellism, religious movement, 457. 323; on railroads, 392, 394-395, 400- Canada, member of parliament, 266; 401, 419-420; route via, 431; on stage visited, 282. route, 446; visited, 449. Canadian Pacific railway, interest, 401. Chicago and Milwaukee railway, ab- Canals, in early Wisconsin, 28-29. See sorbed by Northwestern, 398. also Erie canal. Chicago and Northwestern railway, ex- Canfield, William, Sauk county pioneer, tension, 389; company consolidates 207; surveyor, 208; studied Indian with, 390; receives lands, 391; sketch mounds, 214. of, 394-399; aids Green Bay and Canuteson, Richard L., thesis, cited, Western, 402. 389, 393, 395, 401. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy rail- Carlsson, Erland, early letters pub- way, purchase of, 394; route, 402. lished, 356. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- Carlyle, Thomas, reformer, 455-457. way, sketch, 392-394. Carson and Rand, merchants, 157, 160. Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pa- Cary, John W., Organization ... of cific railroad company, formed, 394. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railway Company, cited, 393. railroad company, route, 394-395. Catholics, in Italy, 186; favor cantonal Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and power, 188. Omaha railway, purchased, 396. Cedar Point, treaty made at, 76. Chiloe island, in southern Pacific, 233, Cedar river, cities on, 326. Central City (Colo.), mining camp at, 343, 352. 319, 341; prospectors at, 320, 327; China, Evangelical missions in, 182. population, 342. Chippewa county, employment in, 153; Ceresco, name of Wisconsin Phalanx, deputy, 277. 464-465; president, 468-469; council, Chippewa Falls, in lumber region, 78- 469-471. 79; lumber company organized at, 82; 492 Index

on steamboat route, 131; route via, Congress, members, 370, 387; makes 277; recruit enlisted at, 282; on rail- land grants, 390. road, 400. Connecticut, Yankees migrate from, Chippewa Falls, river steamboat, 131. 102. Chippewa Falls lumber company, or- Constitution, whaling vessel, 342. ganized, 78. Cooke, Jay and company, railroad in- Ghippewa Indians, characterized, 17; terests, 402. sign treaty, 79; hostility, 134; squaw, Cooper, Capt. , district marshal, 281. 143, 151. Chippewa lumber and boom company, Cooperative movement, discussed, 473- president, 82. 474. Chippewa river, falls, 89; in lumbering Copperheads, in Wisconsin, 423. region, 75, 78-79, 81-83, 89, 131, 276- Corinto (Nicaragua), port, 204; death 278; basin, 76; log jam on, 86; on at, 213. steamboat route, 132-133; crossed, Cornell university, sells land in Wis- 154; deserters on, 279. consin, 82. Christlichen Botschafter, cited, 186. Cottingham, Jesse, correction concern- Chur (Switzerland), residents, 185, ing, 107. 190; newspaper files broken, 219. Cotton Woods Springs (Neb.), on Church, , postmaster, 285. Pike's peak route, 334. Civil war, soldiers in, 134, 323, 421- Coy, Mrs. J. G., 'Crossing the Plains in 424; prices during, 388; early monu- 1862,' cited, 334. ment, 483. Crawford county historical society, ac- Claflin, Increase, tablet placed at home tivity, 115. of, 114. Cross, , at Chicago, 449. 'Claim Jumpers,' in Pine lake region, Cross, Levi, visited, 329-330; en route 305-306. for Pike's peak, 331-332, 337-338. Clark county, river in, 77. Cross, Mrs. Levi (Ellen), visited, 329. Clary, Rev. Dexter, secretary of Be- Crossman, , justice of Prairie du loit college trustees, 32, 44-45; let- Sac, 221. ters to, 37-38. Cuba, route via, 196. Clear creek, valley, 319; in gold region, Curtis, George William, at Brook Farm, 339, 341. 458. Cleon creek, route via, 332. Cleveland, Pres. Grover, postmaster D , M., hides deserter, 141-142; re- general under, 370. jected as recruit, 152-153; service, Clinton, Rev. O. P., letter acquired, 359. 160. Colby, Charles, railroad promoter, 401. Daily Miners' Register (Central City, Colby, Gardner, railroad president, 399- Colorado), cited, 342. 400; son of, 401. Dallas county (Iowa), route via, 327. Cole, H. E., edits history, 185; Stage- Dana, Charles A., and Brook Farm, coach and Tavern Days, cited, 208. 458. Cologne, French whaling vessel, 237. Dane county, early tree marked, 362; Colonial Dames of America, issue Book district attorney, 368; county judge, of Remembrance, 480. 370; lawyers, 372. Colorado university, faculty member of, Dane county bar association, meetings, 319. 375; members, 377. Columbia, whaling vessel, 232; wrecked, Danes, at Pine lake, 300. 352; crew, 353. Dartmouth college, student, 432. Columbus, on proposed railroad, 390; Day, Jeremiah, cited, 34. on railroad, 393. Dead lake prairie, route via, 142, 276. Columbus, whaling vessel, 348. Deery, James, deputy sheriff, 141. Comanche Indians, near Denver, 339. Delafield, pioneers, 24, 161-167, 172-175, Communism, not approved by Fourier, 294; roads to, 25, 27, 168; water 463. power, 26; sawmill, 295. Congregationalists, interest in Beloit Delwiche, Prof. E. J., tablet honoring, college, 44; affiliation with, 374. unveiled, 249. Index 493

Democratic party, members, 132, 134, EAST WAUPUX (Chester), on railroad, 376; in Wisconsin, 461, 467. 419. Dennison, , informer, 140-141. Eaton, E. D., Historical Sketches of Densmore papers, addition to, received, Beloit College, cited, 33; president of 480. Beloit college, 45. Denver (Colo.), residents, 187, 320, Eau Claire, in lumber region, 79; saw- 324; gold discovery near, 319; in gold mill owners 'war,' 81; lake near, 87; rush, 334, 338-340; reports of storm, on steamboat route, 131; visited, 140, 335; sketch, 338. 153; route via, 148, 277, 287-288, 292; Dewey, Nelson, diaries acquired, 359; residents, 279, 290; on railroad, 397. state acquires farm, 365, 484. Eau Claire county, deputy, 277. Dial, reform journal, 458. Eau Claire lumber company, owners of, Dickinson, Charles H., diary acquired, 79; sold, 83. 247. Eau Claire river, tributary of Chip- Dobytown. See Kearney City (Neb.). pewa, 78-79. Documents, 91-107, 182-241, 319-355, Eau Galle, merchants at, 157; route 431-453. via, 158. Dodge, Henry, makes treaty, 76. Eau Galle township (Dunn county), Doolittle, James R., additional papers resident, 152; raid in, 154. of, acquired, 246. Editorial Comment, 454-474. Door county, pine forests in, 72-73; Edna, river steamboat, 202. railroad, 402. Education, in Wisconsin, 417-418. See Door county historical society, activ- also article on 'Beloit College Fac- ities, 250, 362; report, 381. ulty.' Doty's Island. See Neenah. Edward Quesnell, whaling vessel, 352- Doudna, E. G., nominated as curator, 353. 378. Ela, Abigail, letter to, 437. Dousman, Hercules L., lumber inter- Ela, Abigail E., son of, 431. ests, 78. Ela, Benjamin, son of, 431; letters to, Dousman residence, acquired, 115; re- 442, 445. stored, 483. Ela, George, letters to, 432-433, 435- Downer, J. C, letter, 44. 436, 453. Draper, L. C., friend of, 100. Ela, Richard E., papers acquired, 360; Dubuque (Iowa), residents, 209, 224; letters published, 431-453; sketch, minister, 221; visited, 288; en route 431; portrait, 432. to, 324; on the Mississippi, 325; on Eldridge, Dr. , acquaintance of, railroad route, 387. 33; New England minister, 54. Due D'Orleans, whaling vessel, 236, 349. Eldridge, Ellen B., mentioned, 33. Duluth (Minn.), in lumber region, 83; Eliza, French whaling vessel, 233, 236. on railroads, 399-403. Eliza Adams, whaling vessel, 229. Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic rail- Elk creek, arrange meeting on, 147. way, route, 403. Elk Mound, resident, 153. Dunn county, river in, 78; district at- Elkhorn river, route via, 331. torney, 136; deputy, 137; resident, Ellida, boat on Chenequa lake, 299, 302, 152. 311-312. Elm Grove, road to, 25. Dunnville, route via, 133; residents, Elroy, on railroad, 396-397. 140, 152; visited, 145. Ely, Prof. R. T., on Johns Hopkins fac- Durand, route via, 139, 158, 160. ulty, 100; influence of, 99. Dutch, in New York state, 271; family, Emerson, Clara, father of, 33. 274. Emerson, Eliza Rockwell. See Mrs. Dwight, John S., and Brook Farm, 458. Ralph Emerson. Emerson, Mrs. Helen B., letter to, 47. Dwight, Timothy, the elder, of Yale, 33- Emerson, Joseph Sr., favors women's 34, 44; influence of, 69. education, 36. Dwight, Timothy, of Yale, 44-45. Emerson, Prof. Joseph, of Beloit col- Dwinnell, Rev. Solomon A., letters ac- lege, 32-33, 35-36, 39-40, 44, 54, 65; quired, 481. letters, 34, 48-50, 55; characterized, 494 Index

36-37, 43; addresses, 45-47, 51-53, 58- Fitch, Mrs. Grant, donor, 113. 61, 63, 65-67; book review by, 56-57; Flambeau river, tributary of Chippewa, diary cited, 64; sermon, 68; portrait, 78. 32. Flori, , pioneer minister, 221. Emerson, Joseph, letter to, 49. Folwell, William W., History of Min- Emerson, Rev. Ralph Sr., sketch, 33; nesota, cited, 393. professor at Andover theological Fond du Lac, lumbering center, 74; seminary, 36; letter, 64; influence of, town near, 75; lumbermen, 81; pio- 65. neers, 268, 270, 405; on proposed Emerson, Ralph Jr., letters to, 38. railroad, 390, 399; on railroads, 394- Emerson, Mrs. Ralph (Eliza Rock- 395, 398, 419-420; on lake, 404. well), letters, 51, 64-65. Fond du Lac company, plats Fond du Emerson, Ralph Waldo, reformer, 458; Lac, 405. cited, 455. Fond du Lac county, pioneers, 270; Empire township (Fond dut Lac coun- phalanx in, 464; delegate, 465; coop- ty), pioneer, 406. eratives in, 473-474; described, 404. England, social agitation, 454-457. Fond du Lac county historical society, Enz, , of Galena, 203, 222. report, 127. Episcopalians, first minister of, in Wis- Fond du Lac (Soocheerah) river, vil- consin, 4, 315; at Waukesha, 296; lage on, 405. dogma, 313. Forsbeck, M.D., Filip A., 'New Upsala: Erie canal, route via, 4, 15, 19, 203; The First Swedish Settlement in low water in, 16. Wisconsin,' 3-31, 161-181, 294-318; Erie lake, route via, 16; storm on, 268- sketch, 119. 269. Fort Donelson (Tenn.), capture at, 132. Errata, 475. Fort Howard, in lumber region, 73. Esbjorn, L. P., diary published, 356. Fort Kearny (Kenery), sketch, 333; Escanaba (Mich.), on railroads, 395, correction in sketch, 475. 399, 401; on steamboat route, 396. Fort Mackinac. See Mackinac (Mich.). Esch, Rev. Henry, Evangelical min- Fort Madison (Iowa), residents, 132- ister, sketch, 225; diary of, trans- 133; visited, 134; removal from, 135. lated, 481. Fort St. Vrain (Varin, Colo.), on gold Essex bay, burial at, 104. rush route, 338. Eureka Gulch (Colo.), population, 342. Fort Snelling (Minn.), soldier trans- Evangelical church, ministers of, 182, ferred from, 18; lumbermen leave, 222; articles on, 186; in Ohio, 222; 79; recruits at, 143; deserter leaves, first bishop, 223. 151; departure for, 286. Evansville, resident near, 368. Fort Winnebago, logs cut for, 75. Evansville seminary, student, 369. Forty-fifth Illinois regiment, discharge Ewbank, Louis B., and Riker, Dorothy from, 147-148. L., editors, Laws of Indiana Terri- Fourier, Charles, reformer, 458-460, tory, reviewed, 243. 462-463. Fourteenth Wisconsin infantry, mem- F , T. B. See C. H . bers, 421. Fairchild, Lucius, leaves for California, 204. Fourth Minnesota regiment, recruits, Fairchild home, site marked, 249. 149. Fall City, visited, 141. Fox river (111.), land along, 431; Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., publish settlers on, 443. rivers of America series, 93. Fox river (Wis.), affluent, 74; as a Faville, Mrs. Theodore, loans diary, boundary, 76; improvement, 390; val- 225. ley railroad, 419. Ferdinand, whaling vessel, 237. France, reform ideas in, 458. First Minnesota regiment, on furlough, 282. Frank, Michael, at Kenosha, 461; diary, Fiske, John, agrees with Turner's view, 462; defends phalanx, 467; tablet for, 96. unveiled, 362. Fitch, , aids in arrest, 145. Franklin Lyceum, at Kenosha, 461-462. Index 495

Franzmann family, emigrants, 202; Goodykoontz, C. B., 'The Exploration killed in disaster, 203. and Settlement of Colorado,' cited, French, S. B., lumber company em- 338-339. ployee, 137, 139; drafted, 138. Grahamism, in United States, 457. French, in New Orleans, 200; in Wis- Grant county, village, 387. consin, 205. Grant county historical society, report, French-Canadians, lumberjacks, 86; ho- 382. tel proprietor, 140; believed deserter, Gratiot family, letters acquired, 247. 142; aids deserter, 277, 280. Graubunden canton (Switzerland), Friman, , sketch, 167-168, 172; re- settlers in, 186; arrivals from, 220. turns home, 173. Great Lakes, route via, 19, 203; emi- Fritsche, Rev. Gustav, Die Evan- grant west of, 22. gelische Oemeinschaft, cited, 183, 186, Great Northern railway, traffic, 394; 222, 225; ordination of, 226. sketch, 402. Fuller, Margaret, and Brook Farm, Greeley, Horace, visits Pike's peak re- 458. gion, 319; An Overland Journey, cited, 319; as a social reformer, 459, Q y deserter, 154-155, 157-158; serv- 461, 467, 471; cited, 459-460. ice, 160. Green Bay, sawmill built near, 73; resi- Q 9 D., deserter, 138. dent, 75; shingle market, 78; minister, Gale, George, papers acquired, 246. 316; on railroads, 395-396, 398-399, Galena (111.), route via, 182, 203; ar- 401; land office, 462; military road at, rival at, 189; resident, 222: 404. Galena and Chicago Union railway, Green bay, affluents of, 73; as a boun- construction, 395. dary, 76; lumbering on, 80. Ganges, whaling vessel, 352. Green bay and Mississippi canal com- Gardners island, sighted, 103. pany, papers acquired, 481. Garland, Hamlin, miscellaneous papers Green Bay and Western railway, acquired, 247. sketch, 401-402. Garraghan, Gilbert J., Chapters in Green Bush, tavern at, 270. Frontier History, reviewed, 243. Gregory, John, discovers gold, 341. Garrison, A. F., report by, 340. Gregory Gulch (Colo.), mining center, Geneva Lake historical society, reports, 332, 338, 341. 125, 382. Grignon, Amable, sawmill owner, 76. George Washington university, staff Groth, Carl, emigrates to America, 3, member, 182. 21; sketch, 8; owns dog, 9; inspects German Evangelical association. See land, 22, 26, 30; at Milwaukee, 23, Evangelical church. 161; at Pine lake, 165-166, 174, 177, Germans, lumberjacks, 86; at Portage, 179-181, 295, 299, 302, 307-308, 310; 102; deserter, 154; en route to St. illness, 173; goes south, 312, 314; on Louis, 193; in disaster, 202; in Wis- Lake Superior, 316. consin, 204; on Sauk prairie, 204; Grover, , timber prospector, 284. ministers, 222, 224; in Pennsylvania, Grover, Lieut. Milton, on furlough, 144; 262-263, 265; in New York, 266; slav- aids in arrest, 145-148. ery sentiment among, 419; supersti- Grubb, Henry, bar keeper, 285. tions, 426-430. Guerke's Corners, road to, 25. Giese, Barney, of Sauk county, 209. Gill, Nellie I., death, 111. Glenson, , aid of, asked, 441. H , deserter, 153. Goddard papers, copies acquired, 247. H , hides deserter, 141-142. Godwin, Parke, editor, 461. H , C, deserter, 276-277, 279-281, Golden City (Colo.), in gold region, 283-290; wife of, 288. 339-340. Haertel, Carl, bar keeper, 102. Golden Gate (Colo.), in gold region, Hafen, L. R., 'Early Fur Trade Posts 339-340. on the South Platte,' cited, 338. Goodrich, Prof. C. A., of Yale, 36; Hagberg, Iwar, emigrates to America, quoted, 37. 3-4, 17; sketch, 8, 300. 496 Index

Haines, Thomas, on whaling voyage, Herbart society, publishes Turner pa- 105. per, 97-98. Hale, Edward E., criticises Turner's Hesseltine, William B., Ulysses S. view, 96. Grant, reviewed, 242. Half Moon lake, logs stored in, 87. Hibbard, B. H., studies of, 99. Half Way house, on Milwaukee-Wau- Hill, James J., railroad promoter, 402. kesha road, 25. Hinkley, Leonard D., letters acquired, Halligan, Bernard J., death, 245. 247. Hamilton, Alexander, tomb, 273. Historic American Buildings survey, Hamilton, Seth, en route to Pike's records acquired, 248. peak, 331-332, 336; employed at Den- Hixon, Joseph M., death, 480. ver, 339. Hoan, Daniel, City Government—the Haney, Lewis H., bulletin, cited, 390. Record of the Milwaukee Experi- Hanford, Rev. Thomas, ancestor of ment, noted, 478. Turner, 102. Hocking, Prof. , address by, 69-70. Hannibal, on railroad, 397. Holdermans Grove (IU.)9 claim near, Hanson, Mabel V., article cited, 314. 446. Haraszthy, Count Agoston, Sauk coun- Hollanders. See Dutch. ty pioneer, 203, 209; sketch, 203-204; Holmes, Fred L., elected curator, 378. employee of, 206; sheep destroyed, Holmes, Obed, death, 103; burial, 104. 218. Honey creek, in Sauk county, 207; Haraszthy, Arpad, wine dealer, 213. bridged, 217. Haraszthy, Attila, wine dealer, 213. Honey Creek township (Sauk county), Haraszthy, Gaza, son of count, 213. farm in, 207; first marriage in, 221. Haraszthy. See Sauk City. Hood river (Ore.), cooperative or- Harbinger, reform journal, 458, 461; chards, 474. citation from, 460, 472. Hoods island, departure from, 103; in Harpenden (England), agricultural southern Pacific, 347. station at, 456. Hooker, William F. (Bill), Old-Time Harrison, William H., political speech Milwaukee, reviewed, 244. of, 131-132. Hooper, Mrs. Jessie J., death, 111; Harter, Gottlob, Sauk county pioneer, papers acquired, 112. 222. Hopedale (Mass.), community, 472. Hartford, highway to, 164. Hopkins, J., en route to Pike's peak, Harvard, university, modern languages 331. in curriculum, 35; students, 96. Horicon lake, railroad built to, 394. Hasselquist, T. N., missionary report Hoyt, Olive L., marriage, 370. published, 356. Hoyt, Dr. Otis, papers acquired, 246. Hauert, , founds Sunday School, Huber, Henry, papers open to public, 223. 112. Hauert, Rev. Mathias, Evangelical Hudson, in lumber region, 72; saw- minister, 224. mills at, 80; on railroad, 397. Hawley, Aaron, Illinois pioneer, 321. Hudson college, tutor at, 35; financial Hawley, Charlie, brother of, 323. agent, 38. Hawley, Daniel, Wisconsin pioneer, Hudson river, route via, 4, 203. 321. Hughitt, Marvin, railroad president, HaWley, H. J., copy of diary acquired, 398. 112; published, 319-342; sketch, 319- Hunsperger, Hilda. See Mrs. Jacob 323; correction in diary, reported, Kroll. 475. Huntington library, Turner papers in, Hawley, Louisa, letters to, 329, 339. 91. Hawley and Manville, merchants, 320. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Brook Hurley, on railroads, 398, 400. Farm, 458. Hyde, R., at Chicago, 449. Hay river, bridge built across, 143. Heg, Col. Hans C, letters of, acquired, S, emigrants bound for, 4; land 480. speculation, 19; New Englanders in, Heller, George, death, 245. 63; lumber market, 80; lumberman, Index

82; pioneers, 167, 431; ministers, 183, Japan, Evangelical missions in, 182. 225; internal improvements difficulty, John Wells, whaling vessel, 350, 353. 389. Johns Hopkins university, publications, Illinois, lakes steamboat, 17. 95; thesis, 96; student, 100. Illinois Central railway, route, 402. Johnson, Dr. Allen, letter, 91. Illinois Gulch (Colo.), in gold region, Johnson, Billy, Sauk county pioneer, 341. 207. Illinois Historical Collections, census Johnson, Harrison, History of Ne- volumes, reviewed, 356. braska, cited, 333-334. Illinois river, affluent of, 443. Johnson, Father Peter Leo, on nomi- Illustrations: nating committee, 121. Rev. Gustaf Unonius, 3. Johnson Creek (Belleville,) railroad Prof. Joseph Emerson, 32. wreck at, 420. Wisconsin Pinery Region (map), 72. Jones, , conduct of, 132. Unonius' Cabin, 131. Jones, Burr W., memorial, 367-377; Map of Swedish Settlement, 164. portrait, 368. Rev. Oswald Ragatz, 182. Jones, E., clerk of circuit court, 134. Ragatz Church, 1935, 226. Jones, Sen. George W., son of, 131; William Wrigley Winterbotham, 277. presents railroad petition, 387. Pine Lake Pioneers, 294. Jones, Marion. See Mrs. Walter E. Burr W. Jones, 368. Smith. Railroad Map of Wisconsin, 388. Jones county (Iowa), cities in, 325- Richard Emerson Ela, 432. 326. Warren Chase, 464. Joven Victoria, whaling vessel, 353. Indianapolis (Ind.), democratic con- Joys, John, death, 245. vention at, 376. Juan Fernandez, whaling vessel near, Indians, described, 17; trails, 27; make 345. canoes, 28; give permission to build mill, 78; study of, 93; hostility, 134- Jump river, tributary of Chippewa, 78. 135; camp, 166, 168-171; in Sauk Jussen, Edmund, sketch of, cited, 218. county, 207, 211, 221; mounds, 214; KANSAS territory, city in, named for aids deserter, 282; hunt, 308-310; territorial governor, 338. steal hay, 311; on Pike's peak trip, Kearney City (Neb.), sketch, 333. 323, 332, 334, 337, 339. Kearny, Col. Philip, fort named for, Interstate commerce commission, Re- 333; correction on naming of fort, port, cited, 388. 475. Iowa, lumber market in, 80, 89; sen- Kearny, Gen. Stephen W., fort named ator, 131; Evangelical church in, for, 475. 225; territorial capital, 327. Keep, Albert, railroad president, 398. Iowa City (Iowa), early capital, 327. Kellogg, Louise Phelps, The British Irish, lumberjacks, 85; at Portage, 101; R4gime in Wisconsin and the North- deserter, 279. west, reviewed, 476-477; distributed, Iron River, on railroad, 403. 479. Irvin, , farmer, 146-147. Kelsey, Prof. Henry S., on Beloit fac- Irvin, George, employee of, 152. ulty, 50. Italians, at Portage, 102. Kelso, , at Omaha, 330. Kenosha (Southport), sketch of, 113, J , Pine lake pioneer, 305. 461; on railroads, 392, 395. J , J., deserter, 155-160. Kenosha and Rockford railway, bank- Jackson county, river in, 77. rupt, 395. Jackson county historical society, reports, 125, 382. Kenosha county historical society, re- Jackson Gulch, gold discovered at, 338. ports, 125, 382; activities, 250, 362. Jacques, half-breed boy, 212. Kensington rune stone, criticism on, 486. James island, in southern Pacific, 228- Kent, Rev. Aratus, Beloit college trus- 229, 347. tee, 33, 44-45; inaugural address, Janesville, on railroad, 395. cited, 34. 498 Index

Ke-Wah-Goosh-Kum, borrows gun, 309; Lacher, J. H. A., communication, 107. visits Pine lake, 315. La Crosse, on river, 77; growth, 78; Kewaunee county, sawmills in, 73; rail- route via, 135, 282, 292; message road, 402. from, 136; trip to, 139, 150-151, 156, Kilbourn, Byron., railroad president, 158, 160, 283, 289, 291-292; on rail- 391-392. road, 397. King, Solomon, Sauk county pioneer, La Crosse and Milwaukee railway, con- 207; sketch, 208. struction of, 391-392. Kiowa Indians, near Denver, 339. La Crosse county historical society, ac- Kishwaukee river, in Illinois, 438; mills tivities, 115, 250; reports, 125, 382. on, 439; claim on, 440-442, 447. La Crosse, Trempealeau, Fountain Knapp, J. H., lumber interests, 79. City and Prescott railway, chartered, Knapp, Mary. See Mrs. Joseph Burrus. 397. Knapp family, natives of Holland, 271; Ladd, Azel, reference to, 247. New York pioneers, 272. Ladysmith, on railroad, 400. Knapp, Stout and company, lumbering La Fayette county, seat, 324. firm, 79, 131, 278, 289; employees, La Follette Jr., Hon. Robert M., A 133, 137, 143, 276. Tribute to the Late John J. Blaine, Knight, —, timber prospector, 284. noted, 109. Knotts and company, en route to Pike's Lake and Hawley, merchants, 320. peak, 326-327, 329-330; Knotts re- Lake Gulch (Colo.), population, 342. turns, 331. Lake Shore lines. See Milwaukee, Lake Know-nothing party, in Massachusetts, Shore and Western railway. 40. Lamb, Charles F., committee member, Koch, Agnes. See Mrs. Bartholomew 377. Ragatz I. Lamb, F. J., lawyer, 370. Koch, Margareta. See Ragaz. Landon, , of Dunn county, 153. Koch, Oswald, daughter of, 187. Lange, George, Swedish emigrant, 22; Koch, Ottilia, inscribes bible, 189. aids emigrants, 23-25, 27, 30, 161, 167. Koch-Ragaz, Mrs. Emerita, owns bible, Langlade county historical society, ac- 189. tivities, 115, 482; reports, 125, 382. Koshkonong, minister, 316. Lapham, I. A., Description of Wiscon- Kossuth, Louis, defense of, 41, 60. sin, cited, 404. Krahn, Capt. , on ocean vessel, 261- La Salle, Robert Cavelier de, early let- 262. ters published, 365. Kroll, Jacob, of Germany, 259; mi- Lathrop, Stephen P., of Beloit college, grates to America, 260-261, 264; 32, 35; letter, 36. settles in Pennsylvania, 262; son of, Learned, Judge ——, Yale classmate of, 266. 37. Kroll, Mrs. Jacob, marriage, 260; en Leaven worth Gulch (Colo.), popula- route to America, 261. tion, 342. Kroll, John, New York pioneer, 266. Lee bay, whaling in, 229; passed, 348. Kroll, Miary. See Mrs. Martin Baer II. Leizer (Lezi) family, pioneers of Sauk Kroll, Samuel, visited, 266. county, 209. Kroll, Mrs. Samuel (Elizabeth), vis- Leonard, Levi, Wisconsin pioneer, 369. ited, 266. Lincoln, Pres. Abraham, issues call for Kronshage, Theodore, papers acquired, recruits, 421; death, 423. 111. Lincoln (Neb.), capital, 329. Krug, Merton, erroneous statement Lincoln county (Neb.), villages in, 334. made by, 107. Lintner, Rev. Christian, Evangelical minister, 224. L , J., deserter, 139-143, 152, 276. Litchfield county (Conn.), centennial, L , J., deserter, 282. 41. Lloyd, Henry D., additional papers ac- Labaree, Pres. Benjamin, of Middle- quired, 111. bury college, 36. Lockwood, James S., lumber interests, Labor, unionization, 454-455, 472; in 78. America, 457-459; justice for, 463. Lodi, on railroad, 397. Index

Log cabins, described, 26, 177, 303; Marinette county, on Green bay, 73. erected, 165-167, 172. Marinette county historical society, ac- Logan, whaling vessel, 231. tivity, 362; report, 383. Long House. See Phalanstery. Marquette, Father Jacques, commem- Longfellow^ Henry W., professor at oration at site of death, 254; early Harvard, 35. letters published, 365. Louis Philippe, sketch of, 191. Marquette (Mich.), on railroad, 399. Louisa, French vessel, 237. Marryat, Capt. Frederick, cited, 203. Lower Nashotah lake, route via, 28. Marshall, T. M., Early Records of Lucas, , of Dunn county, 153-154. Gilpin County, Colorado, cited, 341. Luce, , mentioned, 453. Marshland, on railroad, 401. Luce, Capt. , on whaling vessel, Marugg, Simon, discharged soldier, 231. 288; aids deputy, 289. Ludington, Nelson, lumberman, 74. Masafuera island, in south seas, 345, Ludlow, Edwin, death, 357. 348. Lumbering, in Wisconsin, 71-90, 132- Mason, George, borrows revolver, 286. 133; camp construction, 278. Massachusetts, pioneers migrate from, Lundi (Lendi), Margaret. See Mrs. 102. Bartholomew Ragatz I. Mellen, on railroad, 400. Lundy's Lane, battle of, 266. 'Memoirs of a Civil War Sleuth,' by Luther Valley historical society, ac- William W. Winterbotham, 131-160, tivities, 115; reports, 125-126, 383. 276-293. Lutherans, Swedish state church, 5, 'Memoirs of a Sauk Swiss,5 edited by 296; Germans among, 264; dogma, Lowell J. Ragatz, 182-227. 313. Menasha, in lumbering region, 75; on Lyon, Mary, friend of, 36. proposed railroad, 399. Mennonites, Germans among, 264; min- M , P., believed a deserter, 142-143. ister, 266. Macauley, Lieut. Tom, on furlough, Menominee Indians, treaty made with, 142. 76. McD , T., deserter, 276-277, 279. Menominee river, in lumber region, 72- McDonald, Katherine, marriage, 371. 74; interstate boundary, 88. Mackinac (Fort Mackinac, Mich.), Menominee river boom company, busi- route via, 18. ness done by, 74. Madison, first house at, 76; residents, Menomonie, in lumber region, 78; resi- 185, 204, 222, 225; recruit escapes dents, 131, 133, 137, 140, 143, 150; from, 283; lawyer, 369-370, 376; real visited, 145, 148, 154, 158, 279, 282; estate, 372; clubs, 374; on proposed farm near, 153; deserter near, 284; railroad, 390; on railroads, 392, 395, letter received at, 292-293. 397-398, 402; centennial celebration, Menomonie river. See Red Cedar. 481. Menomonie township (Dunn county), Madison Argus, article in, 466-467. enrollment of recruits, 290. Maine, emigrate from, 77, 84, 102. Mjerk, Frederick, Economic History of Malthus, Thomas R., theories, 456. Wisconsin ..., cited, 388-393, 396. Manheim (Pa.), gristmill at, 265. Merrill, Samuel, sawmill owner, 76. Manitowoc, minister at, 5, 316-317; resi- Merrill, Sherburn S., railroad superin- dent, 398. tendent, 393. Manitowoc county, sawmills in, 73. Merrill, as a boundary, 76. report, 126; activity, 251. Merton township (Waukesha county), Maquoketa City, river steamboat, 131; pioneers, 5; land selected in, 29. clerk on, 132. Messersmith (Messerschmitt), John, Marathon county, beginnings, 76. Wisconsin pioneer, 204. Marine and Fire Insurance company, Meteoric shower, of 1833, 409-410. banking, 466. Mexico, supplies from, sent to gold re- Marinette, on Menominee river, 74; on gion, 341. railroad, 390, 396. Meyer, Balthasar H., A History of the Mianitowoc county historical society, Northern Securities Case, cited, 394. 500 Index

Meyer, Caroline. See Mrs. George Rag- Minneapolis (Minn.), water power at, atz. 80; resident, 83; on railroads, 396, Meyer, Henry, Sauk county pioneer, 401. 215. Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste Meyer, Jake, near Honey creek, 217. Marie (Soo) railway, absorbs Wis- Meyer, Milton, owns farm, 227. consin Central, 400; route, 401. Meyer, William, buys farm, 227. Minneapolis, Sault Ste Marie and At- Meyer brothers, of Sauk county, 215. lantic railway company, organized, Michigan, river sources on border of, 401. 74; as a boundary, 76; lumbermen, Minnesota, lumbermen of, in St. Croix 81; settlers, 102; route via, 179; in- valley, 79-80; lumber interests in, ternal improvements difficulty, 389; 82-83; Sioux Indians in, 134; pio- railroads in, 395-396, 398, 399-400, neers, 197, 210; internal improve- 403. ments difficulty, 389. Michigan lake, route via, 18-19, 269; Minnet (The Memory), ocean vessel, 4, settlers on, 62; pine forests on, 72-73, 9, 14. 80; cities on, 392. Mississippi river, canal proposed to, Middlebury college, graduate, 35; pro- 28; tributaries, 72, 75, 78, 81, 83, 86, fessor, 36; president, 36. 179; railroads cross, 90; villages on, Military road, markers along, 114; 131, 387; rafting on, 132; route via, borders Lake Winnebago, 404. 133, 149, 199, 201, 203, 283; valley, Miller, , neighbor, 139. 182; Indians removal across, 207; Millerism, religious movement, 457. cities on, 325; railroads constructed to, 392-393, 395, 401, 419; railroad Milton, whaling vessel, 349. follows, 402; military road at, 404; Milwaukee, emigrants at, 4, 20-23, 28, lands in region of, 451. 203, 296; port, 19; beginnings, 24; Mississippi river logging company, or- tavern near, 25; mayor, 40; lumber- ganized, 82. man, 73; roads from, 85, 303, 404; Mississippi valley historical association, visited, 161, 165, 168, 174, 452; spec- meeting, 486. ulator, 204, 388; market, 213, 216- Missouri City (Colo.), population, 342. 218, 312; organ purchased at, 225; Missouri Flats (Colo.), in gold region, merchant, 305; bar association meets 341. at, 376; railroads at, 387, 392, 398- Missouri river, emigrants on, 202; route 399, 419; resident, 401; banking in, via, 325, 329; gold prospectors on, 466; land office, 431, 451; lands near, 334; towns on, furnish supplies, 341. 451. Mitchell, Alexander, railroad president, Milwaukee and Mississippi railway, 393-394, 398; banker, 466. route, 387; first service in state, 392; Mitchell, Donald G., Yale classmate of, goes bankrupt, 393. 37. Milwaukee and Northern railway, Mocha island, in southern Pacific, 238, leased, 399. 343, 352. Monico, on railroad, 398. Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien rail- Monroe, Marie J., article cited, 204. way, reaches Spring Green, 226. Montreal river, railroad crosses, 403. Milwaukee and Rock river canal, land Moore, Capt. , employees of, 138, grants for, 390. 286-287, 289. Milwaukee and Watertown railway, Moore, Frank, deputy marshal, 153. route, 393. Moravians, Germans among, 264. Milwaukee and Waukesha railway, Mormons, operate sawmill, 77; be- chartered, 392. ginnings of sect, 457. Morrell, -, aids emigrants, 17. Milwaukee county historical society, Morrison, H. J., at Galena celebration, preliminary meetings for organiza- 203. tion, 250, 383; organized, 361. Morton, J. S., School History of Ne- Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western braska, cited, 329. railway, route, 397. Mountain City (Colo.), in gold region, Mineral Point, lawyers, 77. 339, 341-342. Index 501

Mud creek, meet on, 287-288. Forsbeck, M.D., 3-31, 161-181, 294- Mueller, Rev. John G., Evangelical 318. minister, sketch, 222; on Sank prai- New York (state), supreme court, 37; rie, 223-224. Yankees migrate from, 102; pioneers, Murray, Marshal, deputy, 289. 266-267, 271; book sold in, 404; me- Myrick, Nathan, founds La Crosse, 77. teoric shower in, 409; slavery sentiment in, 419. N , Waukesha pioneer, 296. New York City, vessel bound for, 4, Nagawicka lake, route via, 28; land 8; emigrants at, 11-14, 21; residents, along, 168. 91, 272-273; whaling vessel arrives at, Narborough island, Whaling near, 229, 355. 348. New York Evening Post, editors, 461. Nashotah, highway to, 164, 168. New York public library, book in, 183. Nashotah house, established, 297; grad- New York Tribune, editor, 459; in- uate, 4, 315; student, 312-313. fluence, 461. Nashotah lakes. See Upper and Lower Niagara Falls (N.Y.), pioneers near, Nashotah lakes. 265-266. Nauvoo (111.), Mormon temple at, 77. Nieman, Lucius W., death, 245. Nebraska, settlers in, 102, 329; ter- North American Phalanx, site, 461. ritorial capital, 329. North Crandon, on railroad, 401. Nebraska City News, cited, 322, 340. Northern Pacific railway, traffic, 394; Nebraska state historical society, Pro- terminals, 400; sketGh, 402. ceedings, cited, 334. Northern Securities company, sells Neenah (Doty's Island), early gov- railroad, 394. ernment buildings at, 74; in lumber- Northwestern Gazette and Galena Ad- ing region, 75; city bonds, 389; on vertiser, cited, 202-203. proposed railroad, 399; on railroad, Northwestern Union railway, absorbed 401. by Northwestern, 398. Negaunee (Mich.), on railroad, 396. Norwegians, at Portage, 102; recruit, Neillsville, county seat, 77. 155; at Pine lake, 300, 312-313, 316- Nelson, Col. , mustering officer, 317. 143. Nute, Grace L., and Ackermann, Ger- Nemahbin lake, route via, 28. trude W., Guide to the Personal Pa- Nettels, Curtis, review by, 477. pers in the Manuscript Collections of Nevada Gulch (Colo.), in gold region, the Minnesota Historical Society, re- 341; population, 342. viewed, 108. Neville, Mrs. Ella H. (A. C), death, 111. Observer, religious journal, 459. Nevius, Aaron C, letters acquired, 247. Oconomowoc, visited, 171-172, 181. New England, Beloit faculty from, 33, Oconto, sawmill built on site of, 73. 41-42; college standards of, 34, 49, Oconto river, in lumbering region, 73. 69; removal from, 43, 63, 96; purpose of first colleges of, 53; lumber- O'Fallon's Bluffs (Neb.), on gold rush jacks migrate, 85; book sold in, 404; route, 334-335. slavery sentiment in, 419. Ogden, William B.3 railroad president, New England, whaling vessel, 345. 395, 398. New Jerusalem denomination, minister Ohrstromer, Charlotta M. See Mrs. of, 183. Gustaf Unonius. New London, on railroad, 401. Olsen, Nils, study of, 99. New Orleans (La.), route via, 182, 199, Omaha (Omaha City, Neb.), route via, 203, 217; traders, 193; French city, 327, 329, 331; distance to Denver, 200; resident, 312-313; removal from, 342; on railroad, 396. 316. Omaha railway. See Chicago, St. Paul, New Ulm (Minn.), Sioux attack at, Minneapolis and Omaha. 134. Omaha railway lines, part of North-

One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Pennoyer, Dr. Nelson A., death, 357. regiment, recruit in, 147-148. Pennsylvania Germans, church founded O'Neill brothers, settle at Neillsville, among, 182; settle on farms, 262-265; 77. superstitions of, 427, 429. Orbit, whaling vessel, 352. Pensaukee river, in lumber region, 73. Orocko. See Arauco. Pepin county, resident, 154. Orzimbo, whaling vessel, 348. Pepin lake, affluent of, 78. Oshkosh, lumbering center, 74; 'Saw- Perkins, Lieut. ——, on furlough, 283. dust City,' 75; lumbermen, 81; Lake Perrigo, Lynn I., edits 'Hawley's Diary Poygan near, 87; on railroads, 389, of His Trip Across the Plains in 394-395. I860,' 319-342; correction reported, Osmond, John, captain of ocean vessel, 475. 264. Peshtigo river, in lumber region, 73. Ottawa (111.), on Illinois river, 443; on Petterson, B., at Pine lake, 300, 303, stage route, 446. 305, 312-313; death, 316. Ottawa Indians, petition of 1823 ac- Phalanstery, common house, 460, 474; quired, 360. completed, 468; described, 470. Outagamie county pioneer and his- Phalanx, meaning of term, 454; at torical association, reports, 126, 383; Brook Farm, 458; at Red Banks, activity, 251. 461; in Wisconsin, 462-474; records, Owen, on railroad, 400. 464-468; incorporated, 466-468; crit- Owenism, as a labor movement, 454- icised, 466-467; closed, 471-472. 455. Philadelphia (Pa.), ship bound for, Oxen, driving of, 30-31. 261-262; emigrants at, 264. Ozaukee county, pine forest boundary, Philip Tab, whaling vessel, 238. 72-73. Philipp, Gov. E. L., farm, 207. Phillips, Lyman H., Fond du Lac P , R. See L. P. B . county pioneer, 406. Pacific Northwest, railroad built to, Pierce, F. L., death, 245. 394. Pieters, Aleida J., death, 480. Paeschke, Charles A., death, 111. Pike, Frederic A., A Student of Wis- Page, Walter, Atlantic editor, 97. consin Fifty Years Ago, reviewed, Parish, John C, George Wallace Jones, 356. cited, 387. Pike's peak, diary on trip to, published, Park Falls, on railroad, 397. 319-342. Parker, Theodore, reformer, 458. Pine (Chenequa) lake, pioneers at, 4-5, Parkman, Francis, of Harvard, 96; 161, 167-168, 172, 178, 312, 316; de- quoted, 414. scribed, 28; prairie fires near, 294; Paxson, F. L., article cited, 388, 392. boat on, 299; hunt on, 308; first Pearmain, , Delafield pioneer, 24- burial, 311; congregations, 313, 317; 25, 161-162; home described, 26, 164; death, 314; visited, 318; map of re- aids emigrants, 27-30, 165, 171-175; gion, 164; picture of pioneers, 294. death, 295. 'Pine Lumbering in Wisconsin,' by Wil- Pearmain, Mrs. , sketch of, 163; liam F. Raney, 71-90; map, 72. costume, 294; grief, 295. Plainfield (111.), arrival at, 436; em- Pearson, Rev. R. M., correspondence, ployment at, 431, 452. 38, 68. Platte river, route via, 331-332, 334, Pease, Theodore C, and Werner, Ray- 338; city on, 339. mond C, editors, The French Foun- dations, reviewed, 108. Platteville normal school, student, 320. Pease, V. S., article cited, 204. Plough Boy, whaling vessel, 231. Pecatonica river, route via, 324. Plover, sawmill built near, 75. Pedrick, Samuel M., aid acknowledged, Plum creek, gold prospectors near, 334. 461, 464. Plumbark, H., en route to Pike's peak, Peet, Stephen, Beloit college trustee, 331. 33; letter to, 36; friend of, 45. Point Bas (Poimt Bass), as a boun- Peninsula railway, route, 395-396. dary, 76; on rapids, 89. Index 503

Polman, William, emigrates to Amer- Quartz Valley (Colo.), population, 342. ica, 4, 10, 14; at Milwaukee, 23, 161; Queenstown Heights, battle of, 266. at Pine lake, 30, 166, 173, 177; injured, 175; practises medicine, 294, RACINE, on railroad, 392. 304, 307. Racine and Mississippi railway, pur- Pomeranians, at Portage, 92, 101. chase of, 393. Port Edwards, sawmill near, 76. Racine county historical society, con- Port Washington, minister, 316. siders reorganization, 483. Portage (Portage City), logs floated to, Ragatz. See also Ragaz. 75; residents, 92, 101; lawyer, 369; Ragatz, Rev. Arthur, of Denver, 187; on proposed railroad, 390, 399; on owns sword, 189. railroad, 393. Ragatz I., Bartholomew, sketch of, by Portage county, beginnings, 76. son, 185-227. Porter, Gene Stratton, miscellaneous Ragatz II, Bartholomew, son of Bar- papers acquired, 247. tholomew I, 187; en route to Amer- Porter, William, of Beloit college, 32; ica, 192; attends school, 212. cited, 46-47. Ragatz I, Mrs. Bartholomew (Agnes), Porter's island, in southern Pacific, 227- marriage, 187; death, 226. 228, 347. Ragatz I, Mrs. Bartholomew (Mar- Portland (M^.), whaling vessel from, garet), marriage, 187. 103. Ragatz, Christian, son of Bartholomew Potawatomi Indians, chief, 308. I, 187; leaves for America, 189; in Pound, Halbert and company, lumber Sauk county, 204; marriage, 221; firm, 79. removal to Dubuque, 224. Pound, Thaddeus C, lumber interests, Ragatz, Mrs. Christian, marriage, 221. 79. Ragatz II, George, son of Bartholo- Poweshiek county (Iowa), route via, mew I, 187; encounters thieves, 201; 326. marriage, 215. Poygan lake, affluent, 74; logs stored Ragatz II, Mrs. George, marriage, 215. in, 87. Ragatz, J. B., son of Thomas, 187. Prairie du Chien, merchant at, 78; road Ragatz, Mrs. J. J., aid acknowledged, to, 85; on river, 131-132; on rail- 185. road, 392. Ragatz, Jakob, son of Bartholomew I, Prairie du Sac, hotel near, 208; resi- 187; encounters thieves, 201; expe- dents, 218, 221; Swiss at, 220; min- rience with wolves, 211-212. isters, 222; high school, 227. Ragatz, John Henry, sketch, 182-183; Prairie Farm, route via, 280, 284-285. letters cited, 183; son of Bar- Prairieville. See Waukesha. tholomew I, 187; en route to Amer- Pratt, John M. W., death, 111. ica, 192; encounters thieves, 201; Pratt, William, leaves whaling vessel, works on farm, 214; religious expe- 344. rience, 223. Presbyterians, interest in Beloit col- Ragatz, Julius, son of Bartholomew lege, 44. I, 187; en route to America, 190, 192. Prescott, sawmills at, 80; road to, 154; Ragatz, Katherine, daughter of Bar- on railroad, 402. tholomew I, 187. Price, William T., lumber interests of, Ragatz, Prof. Lowell J., edits 'Memoirs 77. of a Sauk Swiss,' 182-227; cited, 183; Proceedings of the Eighty-second An- visits Switzerland, 191; sketch, 255. nual Meeting; Proceedings of the Ragatz, Margaret, daughter of Bar- Eighty-third Annual Meeting. See tholomew I, 187. Wisconsin historical society. Ragatz, Maria, cousin of, 184. Protestants, in Italy, 186; favor cen- Ragatz, Rev. Oswald, 'Memoirs,' 182- tralized government, 188. 227; portrait, 182. Puritans, comment on, 41; migrations, Ragatz, Thomas, son of Bartholomew 62-63. I, 187; leaves for America, 190; in- heritance, 226. QUADERER, John, in lumber camp, 282. Ragatz, Mrs. Thomas, of Prairie du Quaife, M. M., article cited, 135. Sac, 218, 222. 504 Index

Ragatz church, erected, 225-226; an- Rochester, pioneer, 431, 452. niversary, 227; pictured, 226. Rochester, river steamboat, 14. Ragaz. See also Ragatz. Rock county, Norwegians in, 244. Ragaz I, George, father of Bartholo- Rock river, canal proposed via, 28, mew I, 186. 405; pioneers on, 42, 443, 449; Beloit Ragaz, Heinrich, teacher in Switzer- on, 48; tributaries, 179, 438; lands in land, 188. region of, 451. Ragaz, Jakob, brother of Bartholomew Rockford (111.), resident, 38; sermon I, 186. preached at, 68. Ragaz, Jakob, cousin of Prof. L. J. Rocky Mountain Directory ..., cited, Ragatz, 185. 338. Ragaz, John Henry, brother of Bar- Rocky Mountain News, cited, 332, 334, tholomew I, 186. 339, 341; Supplement, cited, 332, 334- Ragaz, Margareta Koch, mother of 335, 339. Bartholomew I, 186. Rocky mountains, mining camp, 319; Railroad commissioners, Report, cited, expedition to, 320, 324; prospectors, 388, 393, 395. 331; railroad through, electrified, 394. Railways, in Wisconsin, 387-403, 419- Roeseler, John S., article cited, 183. 421; map, 388. Roger, , early claim of, 443, 446; Ralston creek, gold discovered on, 338. employee of, 450. Raney, William F., 'Pine Lumbering Roosevelt, Theodore, Winning of the in Wisconsin,5 71-90; 'The Building West, reviewed, 96; historical inter- of Wisconsin Railroads,' 387-403; est, 101. sketch, 119. Rose, David S., grave marked, 114. Reads Landing (Minn.), lumber rafts Rosenberry, Justice Marvin B., reads made up at, 89, 131; raft crews at, memorial, 367. 132; route via, 133, 135-136, 139, 142, Rothamsted agricultural station, in 148-149, 276, 282, 284; residents, 137. England, 456. Red Bank (N.J.), phalanx at, 461. Roys, Miles, witness, 442. Red Cedar (Menomonie) river, tribu- Rudquist, Carl A., death, 245. tary of Chippewa, 78; sawmills on, Russell's Gulch (Colo.), mines at, 324; 79; village, 133; farm, 146; raid, 278. population, 342. Reformed church, in Switzerland, 218; Ryan, Patrick, leaves whaling vessel, minister of, sought, 221; on Sauk 344. prairie, 225; Germans among, 264. Ryan, William, reads memorial, 367; Reichenau college, teacher at, 191. committee member, 377. Republican party, birthplace, 471; convention delegate, 102; candidate of, -, Waukesha county pioneer, 179. 144. -, recruit, 154. Rhinelander, F. W., railroad promoter, -, H. See C. H . 398. -, Mrs. H. (C. H ), deserter's Rhinelander, on railroad, 401. wife, 289. Rhodes, James F., historian, 101. J., encountered, 147-148. Ricardo, David, theories, 456. -, P., deserter, 138-139. Rice Lake, site of, 282. - family, aids deserter, 146-147. Richardson, Robert K., 'The Minded- St. Anthony falls, water power at, 80. ness of the Early Faculty of Beloit St. Carlos, whaling near, 233. College,' 32-70; sketch, 119. St. Charles (Colo.), becomes part of Rico, John, guide, 106-107; on whaling Denver, 338. vessel, 348. St. Croix Falls, land office at, 80. Ripley, Rev. George, at Brook Farm, St. Croix falls, water power at, 79-80. 458, 465, 472. St. Croix river, in lumbering region, Ripon, seat of Wisconsin Phalanx, 75, 79; interstate boundary, 88; sol- 464; town site, 471. dier escapes to valley, 283; railroad River Side, route via, 324. proposed to, 390. Roads, in early Wisconsin, 25, 30. St. Gallen canton (Switzerland), set- Robinson's creek, arrival at, 288. tlers, 186. Index 505

St. Joseph river, cemetery on, 183. ial, 454-474; lectures to be published, St. Louis (Mo.), lumber sent to, 78, 479. 89; packets from, 148; Germans en Schellenger, J. L., visited, 324. route to, 193, 195; route via, 202-203. Schloerb, August J., death, 480. St. Louis Reporter, cited, 202. Schmidt, Dr. Otto L., death, 245; ap- St. Louis Republican, cited, 203. preciation of, 486. St. Louis river, bridged, 402. Schneidau, P. von, at Pine lake, 302- St. P , aids deserter, 277, 280. 304, 311; removal, 312, 317. St. Paul (Minn.), route via, 143; vis- Schneidau, Mrs. P. von, at Pine lake, ited, 144; packets, 148; on railroads, 302-304. 393, 396, 399-400. Schubring, E. J. B., lawyer, 370; nom- St. Paul Pioneer Press, information in, inated as curator, 378. 151. Schuck, Rev. N., Evangelical minister, St. Peter (Minn.), Sioux hostility near, 225. 183. Schurz, Carl, opposes slavery, 419. St. Vrain, Ceran, establishes strong- Schuyler, Gen. Philip, service under, hold, 338. 272. St. Vrain creek, stronghold on, 338. Schuylkill river, settlers on, 262. Samson, Abbot, rules manor, 456. Science, whaling vessel, 103-106. Sanborn, A. S., county judge, 370. Scotch, democratic ideals defended, 92; Sanborn, Perley R., death, 480. at Caledonia, 101. San Diego county (Calif.), sheriff, 204. Scudder, Horace, refuses Turner paper, San Francisco (Calif.), assayer of 97. mint, 204; wine dealers, 213. Second United States Dragoons, at Sargent, Henry, visited, 324; letter to, Fort Kearny, 333. 326. Senn, Dr. Nicholas, medals of, ac- Sargent, Lewis, plans Pike's peak ex- quired, 113. pedition, 321-322; on way to Pike's Seven Mile creek, tributary of Fond peak, 324-325, 327, 331, 333, 335-336, du Lac river, 405. 338; son-in-law of, 329-330; in gold Seybert, Rev. John (Johannes Sybert), region, 341. Evangelical minister, 222; conducts Sauk City (Haraszthy, Westfield), es- services, 223, 225. tablished, 203-204; pioneers at, 182, Seymour, , deputy marshal, 139- 220; on Wisconsin river, 206; flooded, 140, 283, 285-286. 210; en route to, 212; market, 216- Seymour, Bennett E., interview with, 217; neighboring village, 222. 319. Sauk county, pioneers, 203; old set- Shawano, in lumbering region, 74; on tlers' association, 208; Indian mounds railroad, 401. in, 214. Sheboygan, Civil war memorial dedi- Sauk county historical society, activ- cated at, 114; route via, 268-270; ities, 116, 362, 483; reports, 126, 383; minister, 316; on railroad, 392; lo- history of, 185. comotives shipped to, 419. Sauk County News, cited, 227. Sheboygan county, sawmill in, 73. Sauk Prairie, pioneers on, 203-204, 208- Sheboygan Falls, minister at, 5. 209, 218, 220, 222; gentleman's estate Sheldon, Supt. A. E., reports error, on, 207; minister, 224; Evangelical 475. mission, 225. Sheldon family, letters acquired, 247. Sault Ste Marie (Mich.), on railroad, Shellenger, J. L. See Schellenger. 401. Sherburn, , employee of, 138; aids Saunders, , knows deserter, 147. in arrest of deserter, 285. Sawyer, Philetus, lumberman, 75. Sherman, Gen. William T., service with, Sayres, Col. J., letters to, 439, 441. 160. Scandinavians, lumberjacks, 85. Shims ferry, on Platte river, 331. Schafer, Joseph, cited, 204, 392, 417; Sholes, C. Latham, editor, 461; selects lectures at University of London, land for phalanx, 462; invents type- 358; 'The Wisconsin Phalanx,' editor- writer, 482. 506 Index

Shorey, , employed by lumber com- Stennett, W. H., Yesterday and Today. pany, 280. A History of the Chicago and North- Showerman, Prof. Grant, death, 358. western Railway System, cited, 395. Shullsburg, route via, 324. Stephenson, George M., Political His- Sifton, Dr. H. A., death, 245. tory of the Public Lands, cited, 99; Simons, W. N., en route to Pike's peak, John hind of Minnesota, reviewed, 331. 242. Sinipee, village in Grant county, 387. Stephenson, Isaac, lumberman, 74. Sinsinawa, route via,. 325. Stevens, E. Ray, lawyer, 370; in su- Sioux Indians, hostility of 1862, 134, preme court, 371. 183; near Denver, 339. Stevens Point, road to, 85; on rail- Skinner, Constance L., letter published, road, 399. 91-95. Stifer, Catherine. See Mrs. Christian Slade, Ex-Gov. , letter, 36. Ragatz. Slavery, opposition to, 419. Stillwater (Minn.), residents, 139-140, Sleisingerville. See Slinger. 142, 284. Sletteland, B. M., death, 245. Stine, , studies of, 99. Slinger (Sleisingerville), on railroad, Stout, Henry L., lumber interests, 79. 399-400. Strong, Marshall M., defends phalanx, Smith, Joseph, death, 77. 467. Smith, Mrs. Walter E., father of, 370. Strong, N., at Ceresco, 470. Society and State, 110-119, 245-255, 357- Summit, route via, 171; Episcopalians 366, 479-486. at, 296. Stfdergren, Christine, emigrates to Superior, on railroads, 397, 400-402; America, 3, 15; sketch, 8; at Pine on proposed railroad, 399. lake, 30, 172, 178, 180-181, 301, 303- Superior and Douglas county historical 304, 314; ill, 161; at Delafield, 175, society, report, 126. 295; marriage, 312; death, 316. Superior lake, river source near, 78; Sonderbund war, caused by discord be- deserters at, 278; copper mines, 316; tween cantons, 188. railroad proposed to, 390; railroads Soo railway. See Minneapolis, St. Paul on, 395-396, 399-400. and Sault Ste Marie. Sutherland, George G., death, 245. Soocheerah river. See Fond du Lac Sutherland, Thomas, leaves for Cal- river. ifornia, 204. South Americans, at Portage, 92. Swedes, emigrants depart, 6; customs, Southport. See Kenosha. 13; at Pine lake, 168, 173, 296, 300, Southport Telegraph, editor, 461. 302, 312-313, 317; songs, 181, 301; in Southworth, M. O., letter, 47. Minnesota, 210; first child of, born at Spak, ox bought, 30; docility, 31. Pine lake, 307; minister of, 315. See Sparta, route via, 139, 151, 288; death also Gustaf Unonius. at, 225; on railroad, 398. Swenson, Mrs. Magnus, death, 111. Spaulding, Jacob, builds sawjnill, 77. Swiss, at Portage, 102; at Sauk City, Spooner, on railroad, 397. 182, 209, 222. Sprecher, Casper, cousin of, 184; par- Sybert, John. See Seybert. ents, 190. Sprecher family, entertains relatives, TAINTER, Capt. Andrew, lumberman, 190. 131-132, 276, 282; employee of, 133; Spring Green, pioneers, 207; railroad arrival of, 137. reaches, 226. Talcahuno, whaling near, 231, 344-345; Squier, Prof. Miles P., address, 56, 60, described, 232; ship bound for, 348, 63; cited, 58. 352-353. Stearns, , deputy clerk of circuit Tallmadge, N. P., governor of Wis- court, 134. consin territory, 468. Tamins (Switzerland), birthplace, 182; Steel, Gen. , issues discharge, 144. residents, 184, 186, 189; records de- Steele, Franklin, water power rights of, stroyed, 188; on Rhine, 190; teach- 80. ers, 218; settlers from, 220. Index 507

Tamm, Hugo, son-in-law of Unonius, 6. Union Pacific railway, connections Taycheedah, sawmill at, 74; situated with, 398. near lake, 404-405. Union township (Rock county), birth Taylor, H. C, studies of, 99. in, 368. Taylor county, river in, 77. Unonius, , death, 314. Teasdale, Howard, death, 480. Unonius, Rev. Gustaf, 'Memoirs' pub- Thayer, Asa P., leaves whaling vessel, lished, 3-31, 161-181, 294-318; por- 345. trait, 3; cabin pictured, 131. Thomas Dickerson, whaling vessel, 354. Unonius, Mrs. Gustaf, named, 7; mar- Thompson, John C., death, 111. riage, 3; companion, 9; brother, 18; Thornapple river, logging camp on, failure to disembark, 20-21; at Mil- 277. waukee, 22; Pine lake, 30, 164-165, Thorp, J. G., lumber interests, 79. 172-173, 177, 181, 301-303, 314, 318; Thorwick, Anna L., gifts from estate Delafield, 175, 295; illness, 304, 306- of, 113. 307. Thott, Baron , at Pine lake, 300; Unonius, Israel, son of, 3. sketch, 305. Unonius, Maria Gardberg, son of, 3. Thwaites, R. G., influence, 99; friend Upham, Mrs. H. A. J., death, 358. of, 100; editorial work, 101. Upper Nashotah lake, route via, 28; Titus, , in the Civil war, 422. Episcopal school at, 307. Titus, Albert, marriage, 274; removal Upsala university, students at, 3, 10, to Fond du Lac county, 405. 315. Titus, Mrs. Albert, sketch, 273-274. Titus, Joseph, buys book, 404; removal V N , J., deserter, 279, 281. to Fond du Lac county, 405. Valparaiso (Chile), port, 232, 345; Titus, Robert, of Massachusetts, 274. fleet at, 349. Titus, Stephen, native of Vermont, 274. Van Brunt, Willard A., death, 111. Titus, W. A., 'The Westward Trail,' Vance, Levi, hotel proprietor, 140. 259-275, 404-430; sketch, 366. Van Doren, Mrs. A. R., donor of Heg Tobacco Plant, whaling vessel, 104, 107. letters, 480. Tocqueville, Alexis de, cited, 467. Van Hise, Prof. C. R., on Wisconsin Tranzmann family. See Franzmann. university faculty, 101. Trees, historic in Wisconsin, 362; de- Van Slyke, , aid of, asked, 441. struction of, 411-412. Vasquez river, Indians on, 339. Trempealeau river, railroad construct- Vermont, Yankees migrate from, 102. ed to, 397. Vilas, Joseph, railroad promoter, 398. Trimble, W. J., studies of, 99. Vilas, Col. William F., lawyer, 369; Turner, Andrew Jackson, named, 102. postmaster general, 370; trustee of Turner, Frederick Jackson, autobio- estate of, 376. graphic letter published, 91, 95-103; Villard, Henry, visits Pike's peak re- books cited, 92; influence, 93; char- gion, 319; The Past and Present of acterized, 94. the Pike's Peak Gold Region, cited, Turner family, reside near Spring 319, 338, 341. Green, 207. Vincent, J. M., edits bibliographies, 95. Turtle creek, at Beloit, 48. Virginia (Minn.), sawmills at, 83. Tuttle, C. R., An Illustrated History Virginia, whaling vessel, 231. of Iowa, cited, 327-328. Vogel Jr., Fred, death, 358. Two Rivers, Thomas J. Walsh athletic Von Hoist, H. E., historian, 101. field dedicated at, 115. Tyler, Capt. C. L., in command, 333. W , G., encountered, 147. Typewriter, inventor of, 461. Wabasha (Minn.), on Mississippi river, Tyrrell, J. B., editor, Journals of Sam- 78, 149. uel Hearne and Philip Tumor, re- Wade tavern, at Green Bush, 270. viewed, 109. Wadman, , at Pine lake, 300. Wallas, Graham, Life of Francis lumber company, organized, 79; Place, cited, 457. failure of, 82. Wallis, ox bought, 30; docility, 31. 508 Index

Walsh, Sen. Thomas J., papers in li- Whitman, Platt, death, 245. brary of congress, 254. Whitney, Daniel, builds sawmill, 75. Warren, ——, aids in arrest, 145. Whitney, Prof. W. D., of Yale univer- Warren, Reuben B., papers acquired, sity, 35. 112. Whit on, Edward V., criticises phalanx, Warren, William, aids in raid, 280-281; 466-467. goes to Canada, 282. Willard, Frances, letter, 47. Warren (Ohio), bank bills, 293. Willard, Dr. James F., diary loaned Warrington, , deputy marshal, 150- to, 319; articles cited, 319, 321, 334, 151. 338, 341. Washburn, C. C, lumber interests, 77. Williams, John K., copies of diaries ac- Washburn, on railroad, 402. quired, 247. Watertown, on railroad, 393. Willow river, searching party at, 284. Watertown historical society, reports, Wilson, , on whaling voyage, 106. 126, 383. Wilson, John, sketch, 207. Watkins, Albert, School History of Ne- Wilson, Mart, Menomonie resident, 150; braska, cited, 329. en route to Iowa, 151; aids in arrest Watson's creek, terrapin secured near, of deserter, 286. 228 Wilson, Thomas, gives information, Waubeck, visited, 145, 154, 158, 160. 136; aids in arrest of deserter, 286. Waukesha (Prairieville), tavern near, Wilson, Thomas. See John Wilson. 25; resident, 107; early settler, 296; Wilson, Capt. William, lumber inter- on railroads, 387, 392, 419. ests, 79, 134; activity during Civil Waukesha county, pioneers, 5, 29; his- war, 138, 286-288. tory, 107. Wilson, Woodrow, lectures at Johns Waukesha county historical society, Hopkins, 100; comments on Turner, reports, 126-127, 383; activity, 251. 100. Wausau. See Big Bull Falls. Winfield township (Sauk county), resi- Way, Lillian M., donor, 113. dent, 107. Weaver, James, first hop grower in Winn, Bessie S., thesis, cited, 391. Wisconsin, 107. Winnebago county archeological and Webb, W. D., attorney, 134-136. historical society, activities, 116, 251, Weller, Bishop Reginald H., death, 483; report, 384. 358. Winnebago Indians, at Portage, 101; Wells Jr., Daniel, lumberman, 73. chief, 171; village, 405. Welsh, at Cambria, 102; in Wisconsin, Winnebago lake, pine forests on, 72; 368. towns develop around, 74, 405; as a Welty, Daniel, en route to Pike's peak, boundary, 76; railroads on, 399; 327. ledge along, 404. West Newton slough, logs handled in, Winnebago war, result, 75. 83. Winneconne, in lumbering region, 74. West Roxbury (Mass.), Brook Farm Winona (Minn.), residents, 149, 151; at, 458. route via, 159-160, 283; on the Mis- Western historical society, publishes sissippi, 397; on railroad, 401. history, 185. Winona and St. Peter railway, pur- Westfield. See Sauk City. chased, 397. Westward (The) Trail,' by W. A. Titus, 259-275, 404-430. Winslow, Judge John B., death, 371. Weyerhaeuser, Frederick, lumberman, Winsor, Justin, of Harvard, 96; cartog- sketch of, 81-83. rapher, 101. Whaler's diary, published, 103-107, 227- Winterbotham, Elizabeth Miller, mar- 241, 342-355. riage, 132. Whig party, in Wisconsin, 40; lead- Winterbotham, John, manufacturer, ers, 459, 461, 466. 132. Whippie, , on whaling voyage, 105. Winterbotham, William W., 'Memoirs White, Merritt F., memorial bridge of a Civil War Sleuth,' 131-160, 276- for, 249, 484. 293; sketch, 366; portrait, 277. Index 509

Wisconsin, reports about, 4, 405, 451; Wisconsin supreme court, judge, 466. flora and fauna, 23; New Englanders Wisconsin teachers' association, ad- in, 63; lumbering in, 71-90, 131; rail- dress before, 55. roads, 102, 387-403, 419-421; A Study Wisconsin university, standards of, 48- of, reviewed, 109; Indians in, 134; 49; thesis, 96; seminary, 100; degree, pioneers, 179, 268-270, 296, 300, 368, 375. 406, 408-409, 418-419, 426, 431, 443; Wolf, A., pioneer of Sauk county, 209. church history, 222; Evangelical Wolf river, in lumber region, 74-75; church in, 225-226; provost marshal, as a boundary, 76. 283; timber prospectors, 284; Episco- Wood, L. G., deputy marshal, 154, 156- palians in, 296, 313, 315; Civil war 160. recruits, 323, 421; gold prospectors Wood county, beginnings, 76. from3 328; farm implements, 412-414; Wood Leid, ocean vessel, 191. wild animals, 414; birds, 415-417; Woodman, Cyrus, lumber interests, 77. slavery sentiment in, 419; named, Woollcott, Alexander, birthplace, 461. 481; phalanx in, 461-474; territorial World war, memorial to soldiers in, 363. legislature, 466-468. Wright, Frank Lloyd, exhibits 'Broad- Wisconsin Central railway, receives acres,' 110. lands, 391; sketch, 399-401. Wisconsin constitutional convention, Wright, Prof. T. L., poem by, 35. delegate, 465. Wisconsin Dells, Bowman park ded- Yale Literary Magazine, cited, 36. icated at, 115. Yale university, Beloit faculty from, Wisconsin historical society, files used, 33; standards, 34, 48-49; modern 100; members, 110, 245, 357, 479; languages in curriculum, 35; faculty Proceedings, 120-127, 367-384. members, 36, 44; societies, 37; presi- 'Wisconsin Phalanx,' by Joseph Scha- dents, 44-45, 69; student, 64. fer, 454-474. Yankees, shrewdness of, 39; in West, Wisconsin railroad commission, issues 96, 102; in Wisconsin, 204, 207; at- map, 403. tend services, 221. Wisconsin Rapids, Point Bas near, 76. Wisconsin river, source, 74; in lumber- Yarnell, Rev. Thomas C, Yale class- ing region, 75; land bought along, mate of3 37. 76; valley development, 76; rapids in, Yellow river (tributary of Chippewa), 89; pioneers on, 203; village on, 204, 78. 206; valley settlers, 227; improve- Yeomans, E. L., book of, reviewed, 56- ment, 390; valley railroad, 392. 57.

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